Hyewon rubs her eyes when she wakes up. She recognizes being back to her and Eunbi’s room. 

 

She then sees Eunbi sleeping with her head on the bed while sitting down on a chair. Hyewon smiles at the familiar view. This was exactly what they both looked like the moment Eunbi first found Hyewon. 

 

“Hey, miss vampire.” Hyewon softly holds Eunbi’s arm, “It’s not comfortable sleeping like that.” 

 

Eunbi stirs in her sleep and when she sees Hyewon smiling at her, she  buries her face unto the mattress. 

 

“I was so worried.” She muffly says. 

 

Hyewon didn’t catch that and moves to stand up, “What happened? Last thing I remember we were at Minjoo’s place? Oh and where’s Hyebi?” 

 

Eunbi looks up at her and tugs on her hand. She then stands up and hurriedly pulled Hyewon into a hug.

 

Hyewon realized that Eunbi isn’t exactly fine so she moved to wrap her arms tightly around the other girl so she could comfort her. 

 

Eunbi breathes in a smell of relief as she buries her face into the neck of the girl. She hugs Hyewon tighter and took in the scent of her. It always helped to calm her down. 

 

The world could be ending but she’d still be calmed by this scent, this warmth, this hug. 

 

“Are you okay?” Hyewon whispers as she rubs Eunbi’s nape. 

 

“I am now.” Eunbi slowly looks up to smile at her. 

 

They were enjoying each other’s warmth. The feeling of hugging Hyewon still overwhelms her even if they had hugged lots of times before.

 

They were in the comfort of each other’s arms when Yujin suddenly appeared, barging into the room in alarm. 

 

“Sorry for intruding,” she says seriously, “We need you downstairs leader.” 

 

The eyes and expression of Yujin clearly tells her that she wasn’t just going to be a crackhead this time.

 

Yujin being serious was one thing out of the ordinary. The youngest vampire also addressed her as the leader, which only ever happens when there really is a serious situation. Eunbi reciprocates the seriousness of the situation and grabs Hyewon’s hand to lead her downstairs. 

 

The environment that greeted Eunbi was far from normal. The vampires weren’t fighting, nor shouting, nor killing each other. They were quiet. 

 

Silence is never a good thing when it comes to these kids. 

 

“What happened?” Eunbi asserts herself infront of the group while Hyewon sits down on the couch next to Minjoo and Nako. Minjoo hands her Hyebi and Hyewon gladly holds the puppy in her arms.

 

“Yuri and I were having a date.” Yena started, pointing to the small girl sitting on her lap, which Hyewon assumed was Yuri, “We were watching some performance from the local theatre that I don’t remember the name of because I was too busy looking at Yul. Then all of a sudden the lights turned off. I immediately reached for Yul but I wasn’t able to reach her and I heard her yelp.” 

 

Yena looks at the ground grudgingly, as if telling the story itself was enough to make her blood boil again. 

 

Yuri faces Yena and puts her hand on Yena’s cheek to calm her down, “I’m fine though. I yelped because I was grabbed harshly by someone. They had sharp claws. I thought they were going to take me away but they only placed something on my pocket then disappeared. After that, the lights again.” Yuri says. 

 

“Werewolves...” Yena growls as she looks at the bandages wrapped around Yuri’s arm. The injury was brought about by the sharp claws of the enemy. 

 

Eunbi walks over to Yuri and pats her on the head, “It’s okay. We’re glad you’re safe.” 

 

Hyewon stares at the interaction between Eunbi and the other girls. She never really realized it because Eunbi was always soft and vulnerable towards her. But this time, Eunbi raised herself with so much confidence and matureness. The atmosphere was intense but she handles it calmly and carefully. It was almost as if the girl she was cuddling with earlier is completely gone. 

 

“The leader may be a dork or a sobbing mess sometimes, but there’s a reason she’s our leader.” Nako whispers to her when she sees Hyewon look up at Eunbi in admiration. 

 

“She’s hot when she’s serious.” Hyewon whispers while she looks at Eunbi. She then immediately puts a hand on when she realized that she said that out loud. 

 

Thankfully, only Minjoo, Nako and Sakura heard it. 

 

“Is she now?” Sakura raises and eyebrow at her teasingly.

 

“Guys, focus.” Eunbi snaps them away from their whispering, not hearing what they were talking about despite her enhanced senses, “What did the werewolf put on your pocket?” 

 

Yuri reaches out to her pocket and takes out a piece of paper. She hands it to the leader and Eunbi alarmingly scans the letter. Hyewon notices how Eunbi’s expression turned from confusion, shock, worry then anger. Upon reading it, Eunbi slowly looks up to look at Hyewon. 

 

“What does it say?” Yujin impatiently asks. 

 

Eunbi hands them the letter, then she takes a deep breath to calm herself. Hyewon notices how Eunbi kept on glancing at her while staying silent and trying to think of a plan.

 

Yujin holds the letter then reads it, “To Leader Kwon and the other vampires, greetings. Please take care of your mates. They are easily kidnapped and killed. Come on now, give us a good challenge.”

 

The vampires tensed up at this except for Nako and Yujin who have yet to meet their mates. 

 

Yena’s grip on Yuri became a lot tighter. 

 

Chaewon hurriedly wraps an arm protectively around Minjoo as she looks at their leader, awaiting her words. 

 

Sakura immediately stands up, a look of panic and anger clouding her countenance, “I need to go get Chaeyeon.” 

 

Before the others could even say anything, she had already bolted out of the house. 

 

The vampires, humans and dog all looked at Eunbi. They counted on her to make a decision or to say a few words. 

 

“It’s definitely Seongwoo.” Eunbi starts, looking up at the group calmly, “We thought we’d taken care of the werewolves already, but I guess not. The last time they fought us, they didn’t win because we were too strong. So they’re using a new strategy this time...”

 

“To use our mates against us...” Nako finishes the sentence. 

 

Hyewon looks around at the other girls, not understanding a thing about what they’re talking about. 

 

Everything was so foreign to her. Just a few weeks ago she was an average teenage woman struggling with studying medicine. Now she’s surrounded by vampires fighting werewolves? 

 

“The sanguinem luna is still a few months from now. No one has been turned yet. Seongwoo is taking the opportunity to strike when our mates are vulnerable.” Eunbi says. 

 

“The letter may be a trap. They must have asked us to take care of our mates so we would be too preoccupied and not notice how they’ll strike.” Eunbi continues. 

 

“If it was a trap then why’d we let Sakura run off like that?” Yena asks.

 

“You know full well that even if Sakura knew it was a trap, she’d still go and make sure Chaeyeon is okay.” Chaewon says, “As with you and Yuri, and me with Minjoo.”

 

“Exactly. This is Seongwoo manipulating us. He knows we’ll do anything for our mates.” Eunbi grudgingly says. Her eyes shifts from the ground then to Hyewon. 

 

Hyewon sees a flash of worry and dread in her eyes. Before she could dig any deeper into the deep eyes of the girl, Eunbi had already looked away. 

 

“What are we going to do?” Nako asks. 

 

Eunbi takes a deep breath and steadies herself, “Yujin and Nako, I’m sorry but I’m gonna have you do the dangerous work. Track down where these werewolves are hiding. Only you two can do it because you won’t have a mate to worry about.”

 

“In my whole life I’ve never felt relieved that I haven’t met my mate yet. Guess there’s a first for everything.” Nako says. 

 

“Yena and Chaewon, I know you won’t calm down until you make sure that you’re mates are fine. So I’m allowing the both of you to take post in this house and to not do anything. Same with Sakura when she gets back.” 

 

“What about you then?” Chaewon asks her best friend. She knows how difficult this decision would be for their leader. Eunbi was torn between tracking down the werewolves - which was her job as the leader - and protecting her mate, a promise that she wasn’t able to keep a hundred years ago.

 

For the first time that day, Hyewon sees Eunbi unsure of what to do or to say. 

 

“I...” she trails off, once again looking at Hyewon. Eunbi breaks the stare and resolutely says, “I’m going to help with tracking them down.” 

 

“Eunbi...” Chaewon says but Eunbi turns around from them already.

 

“Get to bed. Make sure you’re alert at all times. We’ll do another meeting when Sakura gets home. Tomorrow, we start hunting the werewolves.” 

 

—-

Hyewon soon found herself in a room with Minjoo and Yuri. 

 

To say that she was overwhelmed was an understatement. She had no idea what the heck was going on. What the was a sanguinem luna? Or a mate? Werewolves?

 

What was she even doing here? She felt so out of place, like she overstepped in a world that didn’t include her. 

 

It all didn’t make sense. The only bit she got was that the mates are in danger? But what was a mate in the first place? 

 

She had been staying with the vampires for a week now but no one explained to her anything at all. 

 

She was busy with her thoughts when Hyebi suddenly cuddled up to her. 

 

“Hey baby.” Hyewon softly tells him as she cuddles him. 

 

“I hope Chaeyeon is okay.” She hears Yuri sigh.

 

Minjoo and Hyewon both looked at each other and moved to sit beside her on the bed. 

 

“How are you feeling?” Minjoo asks Yuri, pertaining to the bandage secured around her arm. 

 

Yuri beams at them and smiles, which makes Hyewon somehow understand how Yena fell in love with this girl, “I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt much. I’m Jo Yuri.” 

 

“Kim Minjoo”

 

“Kang Hyewon”

 

Yuri nods and beams at them, “So Minjoo is Chaewon’s mate and Hyewon is Eunbi’s right?” 

 

Hyewon tuns a bright shade of red. She had a slight idea of what a mate meant which caused her to turn even redder, “She isn’t...I’m not-“ 

 

“You don’t have to deny it.” Minjoo playfully punches her arm, “I saw how Eunbi carried you back here when you were unconscious. She held you as if you were the most fragile thing in the world.”

 

Hyewon turns even redder at the thought but dismisses it immediately, “You’re joking.”

 

“I’m not!” Her best friend pouts. 

 

Hyewon refuses to believe any of that. Sure Eunbi is gorgeous and amazing and hot and cute and kind and caring and loving and she was everything Hyewon ever wanted in a person. But Hyewon refused to pursue such feelings because she knows someone else owns Eunbi’s heart. 

 

She figured it out when Eunbi told her that she only ever hugged the person she loved. Which is why it was still a big question to Hyewon why Eunbi keeps hugging her. But nevertheless, Hyewon doesn’t believe Eunbi would even like her. 

 

I’m just Hyewon, she thinks. 

 

I come from a middle family and I’m struggling to even find a job after going back to this country. I’m not skilled at anything. I’m not even good at anything. Heck I’m not even pretty. Eunbi wouldn’t like someone like me, she thinks again.

 

Eunbi is perfect, she’s ideal, she’s good at everything and everyone admires and looks up to her. Hyewon isn’t special.

 

So she pushes the idea away, giving up on the thought of Eunbi possibly liking her back.

 

Sure she liked the girl. I mean who wouldn’t? Her smile, her jet black eyes and hair. Her everything. Eunbi was pale, as with all the other vampires, but sometimes Eunbi shows a shade of red in her cheeks and Hyewon can’t believe how adorable it looks.

 

Whenever Eunbi would hug her, she would feel the vampire’s toned body against her. She was certain the girl had abs at this point. She was really y and attractive. 

 

Hyewon however, didn’t fall in love with the physical assets. She fell in love with what was inside, as cliche as it may be. 

 

She admires how Eunbi is able to keep calm at difficult times and assert her leadership so easily. She admires how Eunbi cares about the people around her. She proved this when Eunbi helped ‘rescue’ Minjoo when they visited her house earlier. And Minjoo at that time was supposed to be a stranger to her. Eunbi also asked her to stay when she had problems with lodging.

 

How could a human be that perfect? Oh right, Hyewon giggles, she wasn’t a human. 

 

“Hey! Earth to Hyewonnie!” 

 

Hyewon then immediately looks up to see Minjoo, Yuri and another girl looking at her curiously. 

 

“Have you been day dreaming about your mate?” Yuri teases her. 

 

“No!” Hyewon snaps at the her, “She’s not my mate or whatever it is. We’re friends. And besides, she’s in love with someone. She told me that back then.”

 

“Oh yeah. It was her mate whom she lost a hundred of years ago. Eunbi never told me her name though.” The new girl said.

 

Hyewon confusedly look at her, alarmed at how someone suddenly entered the room. 

 

Minjoo laughs, “Hyewonnie, you were too spaced out to notice Chaeyeon arrived.”

 

“Chaeyeon? As in, Sakura’s mate?” 

 

“That’s me.” She smiles, “Saku-chan rushed into my house earlier, asked me if I had any injuries or if anything happened to me. When I confusedly answered no, she just went and carried me here to her house. I wasn’t even able to get clothes or anything.” 

 

“Well you really can’t blame her. Our mates are panicking.” Yuri tells her which Chaeyeon nodded at. 

 

“Wait wait.” Hyewon raises a hand up, “Can someone please explain to me what the heck is going on? Please? I’m gonna lose my mind with hundreds of questions popping up.” 

 

The three humans looked at each other and Minjoo offered to begin. 

 

“Okay so I’ll start from the top I guess? Since I haven’t explained to you yet why you saw me and Chaewon...earlier...” she trailed of as a blush encompassed her cheeks, “Well I’ve only met Chaewon five months ago. We kinda clicked and dated. Then I found out she’s a vampire and that I was her mate. She explained the concept of everything to me. However, this is actually the first time I’m actually seeing this kind of world, or meeting another vampire aside from Chaewon. It’s my first time meeting the others and these girls as well.” 

 

Hyewon then nods at Minjoo then turns her head to Chaeyeon and Yena.

 

“Well me and Chaeyeon  met 

Sakura and Yena around the same time I think. It was ten months ago, and the two confessed and we found out about them being vampires and all that. Chaeyeon and I usually stayed at this house too whenever we feel like having a sleepover so we’re kind of close with the vampires as well.”

 

“Okay.” Hyewon nods, imprinting the new information in her head, “Then how about all the things causing tension and danger right now? And also the basic terminologies?”

 

“Eunbi didn’t tell you anything?” Chaeyeon looks at her in surprise. 

 

“I don’t think she needs to tell me anything. I’m just a freeloader in this house who she feels guilty for biting so she offered for me to stay. I don’t think she considers me important enough to explain everything beforehand.” Hyewon looks down sadly, rubbing the head of Hyebi in her arms.

 

The three other girls looked at each other and whispers, “How is she not important when I can literally see how the leader was looking out for her even if she was busy attending to the problem against the werewolves.” 

 

“Right? And she looks at her with so much affection and longing that it’s almost straight out of a tv show.”

 

“But hey guys, Eunbi has a soulmate who died hundreds of years ago. The soulmates of vampires are absolute, we know that.”

 

“You’re saying that Eunbi may be mistakenly in love with Hyewon?” 

 

“No! I’m postive Eunbi likes her.”

 

“Hey guys!” Hyewon shouts at them, not hearing what they were discussing about, “I thought you’ll tell me what’s going on.”

 

“Right!” Chaeyeon coughs, “Well, you see the werewolves and vampires are sworn enemies. I don’t know why but it’s always a plot in every vampire story, which I didn’t expect was true in real life too but here we are. The werewolves are headed by Seongwoo. As Eunbi mentioned earlier, the last time they fought, which I think was fifty years ago, Seongwoo and his werewolves lost badly. They didn’t appear for another fifty years. That was until now, where they showed they were alive using Yuri.” 

 

“Their new strategy to win this time is by using the vampire’s mates against them. Which is us.” 

 

Hyewon nods attentively, feeling kind of proud of herself for atleast getting that part right.

 

“So you’re their mates? Okay...but what does that mean exactly?” Hyewon asks.

 

“Well if you’re familiar with a werewolf’s mate, it’s almost the same concept. It’s someone you’re destined to be with. The red string of fate decided for you to end up with each other. All vampires have their distinct mate. The problem is, sometimes the mate isn’t a vampire like themselves. Sometimes their mate is a human.” Yuri explains, “Which is the case for all of us.”

 

“Since humans are at the bottom of the food chain, Seongwoo decided it would be easier to use us against the vampires. Especially since the  sanguinem luna hasn’t happened yet.”

 

Hyewon was about to speak up to ask about what the heck that is when Yuri beat her to it with an answer, “The sanguinem luna, or blood moon in English, is a once in a year event, wherein the vampires are given a chance to turn their human mates.”

 

“Turn into what? Vampires too?” Hyewon eagerly asks. 

 

“Well not exactly. See this is why it should be done during the blood moon. If a vampire makes love to her mate, bites her neck and drinks a bit of blood during the night of the blood moon, the human turns. Not into a vampire but into an immortal being. Nothing changes with the human except for the fact that she can’t die using natural means anymore. That way, the vampire can ensure that they’ll be together forever.”

 

“So since the blood moon hasn’t happened yet...” Hyewon looks at the three, “You’re all in danger.” 

 

“Yes they are.” Sakura suddenly appears by the doorstep, “Which is why you’re all sleeping here tonight so we can keep an eye out for you guys.” 

 

“Saku-chan!” 

 

Chaeyeon then stands up to wrap her arms around Sakura’s neck who happily hugged her back. They shared sweet smiles with each other and Sakura playfully gives her a quick peck on the lips.

 

“Are you sleepy now baby?” Sakura asks which Chaeyeon answered with a nod, “I was kind of asleep when you just kidnapped me and brought me here.”

 

“Sorry about that. You know it’s for the best. Come on, go get a shower and use my clothes for the meantime. I can’t have you running back to your house to get clothes.” Sakura says as she leads Chaeyeon outside the room, the two refusing to let go of each other.

 

“Goodnight guys.” Chaeyeon waves at them before being out of sight.

 

“That was insanely cute.” Minjoo whispers which made Hyewon and Yuri nod. 

 

“Yuuuuul.” A sing song voice was heard from downstairs which undoubtedly belonged to a certain small and cute vampire named Yena.

 

“Well that’s my cue. Goodnight you two.” Yuri stands up from the bed and walks out of the room. 

 

“So where’s your Chaewon?” Hyewon asks as she lets go of Hyebi who was now walking outside the room. 

 

“She’s busy talking to your Eunbi.” Minjoo teasingly answers. 

 

Hyewon buries her face into the pillow, “She’s not my Eunbi. I told you, she likes someone else.” 

 

“But how about you?” Minjoo leans down, puts her chin on her hand and smiles knowingly at her, “You like her don’t you?”

 

Hyewon grunts and slaps a pillow into her bestfriend’s face.

 

“Come on! Don’t deny it!”

 

“You already know the answer why are you forcing me to say it?” Hyewon glares. 

 

“Because it’s a lot more fun this way!” Minjoo laughs. 

 

“You like her don’t you?!” Minjoo teasingly raises both of her eyebrows. 

 

“Give it a rest Minjoo.” Hyewon groans.

 

“Nope. Not when my dear Hyewonnie has a crush.” 

 

“I don’t have crush.”

 

“Sure. And I’m not dating Chaewon.”

 

“You won’t be stopping anytime soon won’t you?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“Fine I do. I like Eunbi.” Hyewon combs her hair with her palms and glares at Minjoo, “Happy now?!”

 

Minjoo grins, “Very.”

 

—-

 

The stars outside were bright. As Eunbi looks up to it, she remembers nothing but one thing. 

 

Hyewon’s eyes.

 

Dark and deep orbs, shining upon her to reflect the view of the world. She smiles as she feels the night sky calming her like how Hyewon’s presence calms her.

 

Chaewon walks to the balcony and sees her best friend sitting down while chugging on alcohol. Eunbi was slumping in her chair with a bottle in her hands as she looks up to the sky. 

 

“Is this really the time to drink?” Chaewon says as she leans back on the railing while looking across the girl. 

 

“You know we can’t get drunk.” Eunbi answers as she places the bottle to her lips to take another sip, “Which .” 

 

Chaewon nods as a comfortable silence envelop them. Eunbi then offers the bottle to Chaewon who declines and looks at her sternly. 

 

“Why did you do that?” Chaewon asks. 

 

“What?” 

 

“Choose to hunt rather than keep an eye on Hyewon?”

 

“I’m the leader Chaewon.” Eunbi bitterly laughs, “I can’t just send Yujin and Nako to hunt by themselves. Yujin is our youngest and Nako isn’t exactly skilled at anything about fighting. Without me those two won’t last long. I can’t afford to lose any of you.”

 

“Then how about Hyewon?”

 

Eunbi places down the empty bottle on the table, “She’s going to be safe. Seongwoo doesn’t know that she’s my mate. He won’t be targeting her.”

 

“Are you an idiot?” Chaewon looks at her like she was crazy, “Everyone can see that she’s clearly your mate. You’re even sweeter than Yuri and Yena, and that says a lot!”

 

“Well I guess I have to distance myself then.” Eunbi nonchalantly says but Chaewon clearly sees the pain in her eyes, “Maybe I’m the reason.”

 

“Reason?”

 

“The first time she died, it was because she sneaked up on our base to look for me. She was shot by a teammate of mine. Then now, Seongwoo won’t hesitate to kill her the moment he knows that she’s my mate. It’s my fault Chaewon. It’s my fault she died and it’s my fault why she’s in danger now. I bring nothing to her but misery.” The vampire’s voice cracks. 

 

Chaewon looks at her friend in concern, “Stop blaming yourself. It isn’t your fault that she’s your mate.” 

 

“That’s why I need to move away. That’s the only thing I can do.” Eunbi resolutely says, “That’s the only way I can keep my promise.” 

 

Eunbi looks up at the stars again but flinches when she felt something on her leg. When she looked down, she sees Hyebi palming at her leg, asking to be played with.

 

“When all this is over, Yena will be freaking out about that dog.” Chaewon laughs. 

 

Eunbi smiles and picks up Hyebi, “Hey there bud.”

 

Hyebi her cheek along with a few dried tears in it. The puppy must have understood that her owner was crying. 

 

“Still, that puppy seriously looks like Hyewon.” Chaewon mutters then her face suddenly lits up, “Oh! Is that why you agreed to get him?”

 

“Well yes, but also because a pouting Hyewon is also really cute.” 

 

She hugs Hyebi and buries her face into her fur. He strangely smelt like his owner. Hyewon’s scent once again calming her.

 

—-

 

That night, Hyewon slept alone with Hyebi on the room that she usually shared with Eunbi. Eunbi never came, never talked or never even glanced at her after walking away earlier from the meeting. 

 

“She’s busy with everything. Why would I expect her to greet me even a goodnight?” Hyewon laughs to herself, the laugh sounding extremely broken.

 

She heaves a deep sight as she closes her eyes, trying to ignore the disturbing tugging of her heart.

 

Just outside the room, Eunbi was sitting at the floor and leaning on the door to her and Hyewon’s room. 

 

She felt the same tugging at her heart. 

 

But she couldn’t do anything.

 

—-

 

Just a transition chapter to explain thingssss nothing much happened. Also i was lazy to think of a villain’s name so i used my Wanna One’s bias name, Seongwoo instead! Don’t worry, he’s an adorable and fun ball of fluff in real life.

 

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