Dahyun woke to fear in the air. Someone was having a nightmare. The bed in which she lay was so soft. She could hardly get out of bed, but she managed it without falling to the floor. Her body still hurt from the attack. She might feel better tomorrow, but a full healing would still take some time. Perhaps a day or a few more.

She saw the grey threads writhing in the air. She felt a pang of sympathy. They needed to be woken up. Creeping into the hall, her feet fell silently on the floor. She passed two doors. Cracking the third open, she peeked inside. Sana lay motionless in her bed, but her brow was furrowed. The grey surrounded her. It was her nightmare. 

“Sana,” she murmured. “Wake up.”

The girl only stirred, but the fear did not subside. If anything, it was strengthening.

Dahyun shook her by the shoulder, her own seizing up as she pulled on the injury. “Sana,” she repeated. No response.

She felt cold, but she didn’t feel panicked. That was a good sign. Perhaps she could help her. She could do it. She felt like she had to do it.

Closing her eyes, Dahyun drew on the fear, in a sharp breath as the girl’s terror closed in around her. Just a bit more, she thought. It was the least she could do after all that had been done for her. She pulled harder. Her stomach turned and she drew her hand away. It was shaking.

She stopped taking in the fear. Darkness fell as she pushed away the emotional world. 

Sana’s breath had evened out. Dahyun was on the floor now. She tried to stop herself from shivering. She pushed herself up, the strain on her injuries causing tears to build in her eyes. 

“Dahyun?” She heard from the bed. “What are you doing here?”

“You had a nightmare,” Dahyun replied, her voice almost steady, “I woke you.” She walked to the door. 

“Then why don’t I feel scared?” Her voice sounded hoarse, deeper than normal. Did she make it higher on purpose during the day?

She chose not to respond to that. “Goodnight, Sana.” She opened the door. 

“Wait.”

Dahyun waited. 

“You took it away, didn’t you?” Suddenly, the girl was in front of her. How she managed to do that after just waking up, Dahyun couldn’t say. Two hands grabbed her own. “You did,” Sana murmured. Then Dahyun was pulled into a hug. “Give it back.” 

“What?” She didn’t know if she should step away or not. It was comfortable to be held like this. It was like some of the ice in her was melting. 

“My fear,” Sana said. “Give it back to me.” 

Dahyun shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that.” 

“You’re lying.” She pulled away just enough to look at her. “Again.” There was sadness in her emotions. If Dahyun looked closely enough, she could see it in her eyes. 

She felt a pang of guilt at that. It was true that she had lied. For this case, it was also necessary, wasn’t it?

“Fear cannot be taken away fully anyway.” Sometimes it can, she added in her head. “So I won’t give it back.” Her body tensed as the grey surged back into her vision. Sana’s grip on her tightened. 

“You’re shaking, your eyes are grey, and you’re starting to smell like death. You're also really cold.” She began to walk backwards. “Tonight, you’re staying here.” Before Dahyun could protest, they were both on the bed and she was still in Sana’s arms. They were wrapped around her waist. “Momo said this helped you, right?” 

She was unsure why she allowed herself to be dragged here. “I think so,” she said. “I fell asleep.” Or had she fainted? She still didn’t know for sure. 

“Okay.” Sana shifted so that Dahyun’s back was to her. “This is fine?” 

“Yes.” She tried to nod, only to find that the girl’s chin was on her head.

“I dream about the night I turned a lot,” the vampire said. “All of us do. I think it’s because it’s the moment we technically died, but didn’t actually. The trauma sticks with you, I guess.” 

“Such things can be like thorns in the soul,” Dahyun replied. 

A small huff. “Aren’t you poetic?” 

“I studied emotions for centuries. It would be unfortunate if I didn’t know how to say it nicely.” 

“Gotcha.” She nudged a leg against Dahyun’s. “So you know how Momo and I were witches?” When Dahyun said she did, she continued, “We had more magic than we do now. I kinda miss those spells, but ironically, you know, even for vampires, life goes on even without magic.”

That struck a cord. Had the two faced similar issues to her? Magic had been a part of them, like Dahyun’s abilities were a part of her. A part which they had lost.

“Long story short, we were attacked by vampires. I know now that magical blood can smell pretty good. The same was for our coven,” Sana explained. “We didn’t stand a chance.” A deep breath. “Momo was badly injured, I was bitten. I knew I would turn, and I didn’t want to then.” Her voice had become shaky. Dahyun placed her hand over one of Sana’s. If it was comforting to her, would it also be the case for the other girl? “A part of me debated not even going through with it. Momo wasn’t going to survive the night. We were too weak for the proper spells, too weak to go out and get what we needed for a potion. We were grieving too.” Deep blue sadness had seeped through. Perhaps Dahyun was overly sensitive due to the fear, but she could feel the heaviness grow in her own chest. 

“Was that when Nayeon found you?” 

“Mina found us,” she replied. “Funny, even though she is older, she was turned at younger age than us. Sometimes acts like it.” A small chuckle. “She convinced Momo to let herself be turned, not the vampire convincing, but the normal one. After that, when we both turned, she showed us how to be a vampire that wasn’t like the ones who’d slaughtered our coven.” She let out a breath. “You can imagine how shocked she was when we still had our elemental magic.” 

“Do you know why you kept it?” Dahyun asked. “Or how?”

“Nope.” Another small laugh. “Not the answer you hoped for, probably.” 

“It’s not bad, sometimes there is no answer.” She had experienced that plenty of times. “And even an immortal must stop questioning at some point.” 

The girl squeezed her hand. “What questions have you never had answered?” Sana’s voice was still deeper than normal. Dahyun found she liked it. 

She thought for a moment. “Why there are two worlds and why there is so much interaction between them.” 

Curiosity blossomed in the air, peppering it with gold. “You mentioned that earlier. You can travel between them?” 

“We are all connected to both worlds, there is no need to travel,” she said. Centuries of her life would need to be distilled into minutes now. Hopefully she could explain it well. “Think of it like a fog you can push and pull into your vision. Emotions live in the fog, including those you feel in the current moment, but also the ones that make you up.” She pursed her lips, watching Sana’s confusion grow a bit. “If I look at your emotions, I can tell this is too abstract, because there’s a dull gold around you. That’s confusion.” 

Gold turned into interest. “And what are the deeper emotions?”

“You have the sadness of an immortal,” Dahyun said quietly. “One that comes when living through eternity. You share it with the other girls, including grief.” Said emotions pulsed within the vampire. She felt the need to make things more positive. “Though what has struck me recently is the happiness and love shared between all eight of you.” A pause. “It’s heartwarming, quite literally. Those are the warm emotions.” She wondered what that meant for her? She was certainly happy to have a place that might eventually be called home, if she stayed that long. If that were the case and she did find a home—then she owed even more to the girls. 

“And fear is cold?” 

The question made Dahyun nervous. How much had she already given away? It dawned on her what she had said after the healing potion. They would know something was very wrong. Sana had also commented that her eyes were grey. Who knew that vampires could be so perceptive? 

Her response was to nod. What else could she do? If she said anything, it would lead to more questions. The questions could only be dangerous. Her responses could only be lies. She didn’t want to lie. Not again. 

“What emotions do you have?” 

Fear, loneliness, and grief, Dahyun thought. “The immortal sadness, less because I stayed among my people, all of whom were immortal.” She winced at the use of past tense again. It would have been much easier in her language. “I have the greatest affinity to tranquility.”

“Right, what you choked us with.” The humour in her words wasn’t reflected in her emotions. Dahyun wondered if Sana realised she couldn’t hide such things with her. She decided not to comment on it. 

“Yes.”Then Sana’s arms tightened around her, but loosened immediately when Dahyun flinched. 

“Sorry,” she said. Then she shifted so that her ch