Baekhyun sat in the passenger side of Chanyeol's car, eyes focused on the road ahead of them. The vampire had briefly explained Yixing's urgency, claiming that he needed to see them as quickly as possible as new information was brought to light from a reliable source. The human chose not to hear anymore of it, simply grabbing hold of Kyungsoo and pulling him back to the bedroom to collect their things. The three older vampires had waited for them at the reception desk, having taken care of their dismissal papers. Kyungsoo seemed too anxious to take their actions into consideration, mind seemingly too frantic to hide their existence to an already expecting human.

"I'm sure everything's going to be okay..." his soulmate admitted, taking a glance at him before his attention turned back to the road ahead. "Yixing knows how to handle these sorts of things, everything will be okay."

"It's not Yixing I'm worried about," Baekhyun admitted, sighing and allowing his head to fall back against the headrest. "It's Kyungsoo." Chanyeol sent him another glance, fingers tightening on the steering wheel.

"What about Kyung?"

"I don't know how long I'm going to be capable of leaving him in the dark Chanyeol," Baekhyun admitted. "I don't know how long I'm going to be able to keep any of them in the dark. They've been trying to keep me shielded from your life, they've been trying to keep themselves under control around me so they don't spread any piece of information about your life. How can I let them continue to do that when I already know the secret they're trying to keep from me?"

"I suggested that we keep these things private because I thought that was what you wanted, telling you I'm a vampire was not how I expected this weekend to go but I'm glad that I did. I didn't want you to tell anyone just yet because I thought you might need some more time accepting the fact that the people around you aren't human. I thought that if you continued to act like you were in the dark it would give you time to prepare yourself, if my family finds out that you know about them they're going to try and be comfortable around you... a comfort humans won't actually feel comfortable with."

"You think that if they find out that I know, they'll invite me out hunting?" Baekhyun wondered, blinking his bright brown eyes at his soulmate who chuckled at his innocence.

"Not quite," Chanyeol shook his head. "but stuff along that line, yes. They'll think that you can handle our other sides, they may not even relent from showing you."

"But I saw your eyes," Baekhyun reminded him of that night in the kitchen, Chanyeol blew out a breath of air from his mouth. "I saw your teeth, I saw the vampire that's hiding inside you right now. I kissed it too-"

"Baekhyun I was in control then" Chanyeol explained, knuckles turning white. "...sort of. You haven't seen what I'm like when I'm not, I'm terrifying."

"And I thought we would be skipping this Bella and Edward situation," the human huffed, arms coming to cross against his chest. Chanyeol let out a puzzled sound, leading his soulmate to groan in response. "when Edward tries to tell her how bad he is for her because he's a bloodsucking monster. For the record, that is the word he used to describe himself, not my own."

"So you don't think I'm a monster?"

"Do you have emotions?"

"What?"

Baekhyun found himself shifting in his seat, his eyes focusing on his boyfriend who was looking in the rear-view mirror. The human could see the headlights of Kyungsoo's car behind them, so he knew they were still being followed by the rest of the boys. "Do you like me?"

"Of course I do."

"Do you get angry?"

"I'm getting a little frustrated by all these questions.."

"Do you cry?"

"Not as much as I probably should, given my life situation."

"You have a heart beating in that chest of yours, don't you?"

"It runs a little differently than yours," Chanyeol explained, Baekhyun writing a mental note to come back to that later. "but yes I do."

"Then no." Baekhyun answers, lips pressed into a tight-lipped grin. "I don't think of you as a monster and you shouldn't either, and nothing you can do will terrify me away from you."

"Not even if I kill someone?"

"If you're talking about your father then no," Baekhyun admitted, slumping back into his seat. "I won't even be scared of you then."

"Can you let me know?" The vampire wondered, taking his eyes off the road to stare into his soulmate's. Baekhyun's brows furrowed. "Let me know when you do get scared of me, I'll stop what I'm doing then."

"Okay," the painter agreed, reaching across the console to take his mate's free hand into his own. "I promise."

Chanyeol pulled their interlocked hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of Baekhyun's palm. The human hummed in content, stretching out his thumb to gently caress his soulmate's cheek. Chanyeol's lips pulled back to reveal his teeth in a loving grin, Baekhyun's heart fluttered in response to it.

"Don't you think you have some explaining to do?" Baekhyun snickered, gently pulling against their joined limbs. Chanyeol regarded him with a grunt, head falling forward slightly though he was still capable of viewing the road ahead.

"I'm going to need you to elaborate Baek, I probably have multiple things I need to explain to you. Things I've completely forgotten about-"

"Or never bothered to mention," Baekhyun deadpanned, his hand dropping onto his soulmate's lap when Chanyeol quickly let it drop. "like maybe the fact that the blonde guy is your other brother?!"

The vampire remained silent for a few minutes, wide eyes staring straight ahead of himself. They were getting closer to the familiar buildings Baekhyun was comfortable around, their drive out of the city taking a shorter amount of time then expected. "I completely forgot to tell you that, didn't I?"

"I can hardly blame you," Baekhyun sighed, head tilting to lay against the window by his side. "I mean the moment you found out that he needed you, there wasn't really any time for explanations although I am happy he wasn't some kind of past fling-"

"You really thought that?"

"For a moment," the painter admitted. "but Kyungsoo distracted me from prolonging the thought. The week we spent together without you guys allowed us the chance to talk to each other, bond on what is expected of us from your family."

"I bet that wasn't a fun conversation," a frustrated sigh escaped Chanyeol's lips. "I'm well aware of Kyungsoo's distaste towards my family. A view I share quite enthusiastically despite everyone else thinking differently."

"So I've been told." Baekhyun chuckled, sparing his soulmate a glance. "Everyone has told me that you hold your family in high regard, that you love them completely and would do everything within your power to keep him protected-"

"They're not wrong about that, I do hold the people I love in high regard but even I can't look past the slurs and the meaningless excuses used for everything else they say."

Baekhyun was brought back to when he was first introduced to Suho -Chanyeol's Appa- who didn't seem to shy away from speaking what was on his mind, regardless of how his words affected others. Kyungsoo -in particular- had a lot to say on the matter, having spent many days crying on Baekhyun's shoulder while they attended their classes or helped Kyle in his café.

"How did you find out about Sehun anyway? I thought Kyungsoo was too scared to tell you anything about our life."

"He wasn't the one I heard it from," Baekhyun smiled, fingers dancing along his soulmate's thigh. "Luhan was more than happy to supply the information. Though I'm still curious about some things."

"I don't think it's my position to tell you his story, it's complicated and-"

"Lay is his father, isn't he?" Baekhyun interrupted, blinking up at his soulmate whose heavy hand came to hold onto his own. "Before I met you, you wrote the word beautiful on my wrist just below my drawing. Lay was with me when you wrote it, he started talking about soulmates and whether or not I believed in them. At the time I regarded it as being a cliche created by fangirls on AsianFanFics, but then he started talking like he was experienced in that department. He talked about how loving someone completely was best shown when you let them go, especially when something would hurt them if you didn't. Knowing you now and having heard how he fits into your life, I can't help but wonder what I was missing. Now I know...Suho spoke as if he was terrified of your Father that day I met him and according to the research I conducted about soulmates I figured out that your parents weren't soulmates or a love match, rather their union was purely for political purposes. Leading me to conclude that Lay wasn't just your Protector, he was Suho's soulmate and therefore Sehun's father who left because Kris threatened him."

Chanyeol let out a chuckle, head shaking in awe. He spared his lover a glance, his eyes twinkled in the sunlight. "He threatened that if Yixing didn't leave the manor he would kill Suho in front of us, meaning myself, Jongin and Katherine at the time. Yixing went willingly and eventually his disappearance was upgraded to him being proclaimed dead, naturally Kris was satisfied that his husband was no longer straying from their marriage which left Appa heartbroken. However unknown to everyone except my Appa and Katherine, Appa had gotten pregnant by Yixing -a one night stand I assume since I never tried hard enough to ask. He had twins, one of which is Sehun."

Baekhyun wallowed in silence, using it as a way of digesting the information. Apparently learning anything about Chanyeol's family was necessary for processing, some pieces of information were easier to understand than others, this certainly not being one of them.

"So neither of them know." Baekhyun declared, eyes widening as Chanyeol pulled up into the parking lot of their agreed meeting spot. "Chanyeol, you're meaning to tell me that Sehun doesn't know that Lay is his father, Lay doesn't know that he is a father, Kris doesnt know Sehun even exists and then everyone doesn't know that your Appa's soulmate is still alive?!"

"That's the majority of it, yeah!" The vampire declared, a smirk curling on the corners of his lips.

"Chanyeol, Sehun's in Kyungsoo's car right now! We're here to meet Lay -which in case it wasn't clear before- is his father, the man he doesn't even know is alive!" Baekhyun hissed through gritted teeth.

He watched helplessly as Chanyeol switched off the engine, took the key from the ignition and stepped out onto the concrete. He sent the painter who remained glued to his seat (most likely due to shock) a wink, his hand coming up to slam the door back into place. Baekhyun glared at him as he made his way around the front of the car, his giant dumbo smile lighting up his face as he held the door open for his soulmate. The painter lightly slapped the hand being offered out for him, choosing instead to step out of the car himself.

"I hate you..." he muttered under his breath, eyes narrowed up at the taller. He knew Chanyeol could hear the words he uttered, which naturally drew a genuine smile to the curve of his lower lip though it was difficult to hide.

"I like you too." Came the reply, the vampire's arm warm against his waist as he began leading Baekhyun towards the entrance of Kyle's café.

It didn't take much for Kyle to agree to close the café earlier than the scheduled closing hours, the American opting to do so as a favour to Yixing who seemed to have developed a strong bond with the fellow vampire. Kyungsoo had initially thought the friendship was strange, a fan interested in an idol type of way but after having spent time working in the café with Kyle and having experienced the man's story first-hand he could recognize the solid foundation they had created all on their own.

Kyle had come to Korea in hopes of joining in the booming café business, though sadly his opening happened the week before the industry suffered the loss of its popularity. Thankfully Kyle's heritage seemed to be more than enough reason for his customers to keep coming back, many using him to help further their English capabilities. If they happened to order more coffee and treats while doing so, Kyle didn't have a problem being used. Even Kyungsoo had to admit that it was sound marketing.

"Pen," Jongin called, appearing next to his soulmate. Kyungsoo jumped at his sudden appearance, though his heart calmed once Jongin's arm wrapped itself against his waist. A soft peck was delivered to his cheek, igniting a spark that lit the rest of Kyungsoo's cheeks aflame. "I just wanted to remind you of something important."

Kyungsoo tilted his head in confusion, eyes narrowing as he gazed up at his soulmate who regarded him with a small strained smile. The chef watched slightly alarmed as Jongin retorted to conveying his thoughts without speaking, the bastard son of the vampire King tilted his head ever so slightly, his eyes following the motion as well. Kyungsoo found himself following his soulmate's gesture, his eyes landing on Sehun who had strolled on ahead of them seemingly intrigued by the architecture of the café's building.

It took him a moment, his mind working overtime to try and figure out what part of Sehun was important, something that couldn't be addressed in fear of the boy overhearing them. Eventually it clicked. Sehun wasn't the only one within the walls of the café that didn't know the secret-

"Good you're all here!" Yixing released a sigh of relief, stepping out onto the floor having come from the storage room next to the cash register. Kyle was on his heels, the owner of the establishment looking a little paler than Kyungsoo had remembered. A pit of nerves filled his stomach, if Kyle looked like all hope was lost, surely the news Yixing was meant to share with them wasn't any of the good kind. "I think it best that we all sit down for this."

Oh this definitely wasn't going to be an easy meeting.

To make things easier for himself and his new friend, Kyungsoo slipped his hand into Baekhyun's, the painter instantly tightened his grip welcoming Kyungsoo to his side with a nervous smile on his lips. Together they left their soulmates on their own, the two sticking their tongues out at their significant other from over their shoulders. Chanyeol and Jongin regarded them both with stunned facial expressions, their lower lips jutting out in a pout as their soulmates quickly found their seats leaving no room for either of them to be next to them. Kyungsoo offered a smile to Sehun who watched as his two brothers sat themselves down next to him both sporting their pouting sad faces placed there by their currently smiling soulmates.

Yixing naturally fell onto the head of the table, Kyungsoo welcoming Kyle to his side so that the owner would be next to his friend. The chef's attention naturally fell onto the files Yixing had just dropped onto the table, his eyes shaking as they coursed around the table.

"What you got there hyung?" Jongin wondered, blinking away the sleep he had accumulated while in the car on the way here. "Did you take work home with you again?"

"I wish it was school work Jongin," Yixing sighed, allowing his hands to come and run against his face. "I completely think that it would have been a lot easier if this was schoolwork but it's not. The files here before us today aren't mine, I came into possession of them earlier this morning by a close friend of mine. He claimed to have copied these files from his employer's filing cabinets and unfortunately these files relate to everyone sitting at this table."

Kyungsoo immedateily felt a pit form in his stomach, his hand instantly finding Baekhyun's. The human turned to look at him, fright evident on his facial features, his skin tone dulling in colour. "It's going to be okay," he promised, squeezing Baekhyun's hand though he was uncertain of how honest that statement could be. "we can do this together."

"Together." Baekhyun agreed, turning his head to look across the table. Chanyeol appeared so deflated as he gazed across the table at his soulmate, it was an expression Kyungsoo had never seen so strongly across Jongin's older brother's face. It took the air from his lungs seeing a strong man like Park Chanyeol look completely vulnerable because he wasn't capable of shielding Baekhyun from his life, and the entire situation.

Kyungsoo took notice of how Jongin had turned his entire attention onto him, his lips pressed into a thin line, eyes furrowed in silent frustration. The chef could do nothing but show no fear regarding the matter that faced them, although Kyungsoo was terrified to think what could be in the files he figured it best to avoid showing that fear especially with Jongin so close. Instead both himself and Baekhyun deemed it necessary for the both of them to show no fear, their feelings being channelled through the grip they both had on each other's hands.

Yixing took it upon himself to hand out the files that coordinated with the person in which they contained pieces of information for. Kyungsoo felt sick to his stomach when he saw the files slide across the tabletop, his coming to rest directly in front of him.

A glance to his left brought a small breath of relief from his lips, Baekhyun's file wasn't as complete as his own. That was definitely a good thing. Glancing around the table though, left an even larger pit growing in his stomach. Jongin and Chanyeol's files were the largest, the crowned Prince winning the battle between the brothers with his thick envelope.

Thankfully Sehun remained file-less, being the youngest son no one knew about obviously had its perks. To the rest of the vampire's at the table, Sehun may as well have been a ghost, a mere presence that could help ground them if they drifted off too far from anxiety or frustration.

"They're my Father's, aren't they?" Chanyeol wondered, flipping through the sheets of paper without giving them a proper read-through. When he came to the end of the pile, he allowed the stack to fall back against the table, the shock shaking Baekhyun's frame.

"They are." Yixing agreed, bowing his head. The tips of his index and middle fingers pressed against the curve of his nose, applying pressure in hopes of ridding himself of his headache.

"Did you get one?" Jongin wondered, his attention focused on Kyle who merely nodded his head as a response. The lack of parchment on the table in front of him made Kyungsoo wonder if he had received it before their arrival.

"What's so worrisome about files with your details, doctors all over the world have stuff like this. What use does Kris get with them?"

"He thinks that our weaknesses are within these pages," Chanyeol explained to his blonde brother, Sehun turned to him with his full attention. "He thinks that if he writes everything down about us, everything his little spies collect he will be able to sit down one day and figure out what our weaknesses are."

"Aren't our soulmates our weaknesses?" Jongin deadpans, looking at his elder brother before he turns back to Kyungsoo. The chef watches him with a tight-lipped grin, his left hand reaching across the table. Like a rocket Jongin's hand snapped to be by his, the ashamed prince allowing their fingers to entangle. A brief squeeze was all he needed to be reassured, naturally Kyungsoo's heart relaxed in his chest seeing as how relaxed his soulmate was now that Kyungsoo had given him the comfort he needed.

"I'm surprised you don't know how horrible our father is," Chanyeol admits, a small smile pulling itself onto his lips despite the awful situation before them. "he isn't going to go straight to our soulmates. Kris is a but he isn't that direct in the beginning, he'll find some small things that might not mean a lot to you and destroy them first before making his way up the chain. He'll find things that your soulmate loves and destroy them to destroy him, which would ultimately destroy us."

"Dad loves playing the long game." Jongin agreed, seemingly remembering something of his past. Chanyeol regarded him with a shoulder bump, which seems like to lighten the atmosphere around them -including Sehun.

"It's too bad that you two know how to play harder." Sehun chuckled, leaning back in his seat looking completely relaxed.

Naturally Kyungsoo's attention turned to Yixing, the man looking at Sehun with furrowed brows that showed how confused he was with his presence. Kyungsoo didn't feel too bad about looking straight at Sehun's father since he noticed Baekhyun did the same. When the human saw Kyungsoo do the same thing as him, he turned towards him. Kyungsoo instantly giggled at the situation, Baekhyun falling through with him.

Watching how carefree the youngsters were despite the news Yixing had dumped in front of them, actually made him feel at ease too. Seeing Baekhyun laugh wholeheartedly at something solely between himself and Kyungsoo melted any type of anxiety or nervousness that had plagued his mind since that morning, the very thought of the boy he cared for ever since he arrived in the city being this happy -even in times of crisis- was really beginning to pull on Yixing's heartstrings.

The protector turned to look at Chanyeol, finding the boy who he had spent most of his earlier life protecting stare across the table at his giggling soulmate was just adding water for the dam within his eyes to break. He sit back against his chair, allowing the air to fill his lungs in order to ground him.

"We still have a few things we need to talk about," he explained to the table, all eyes turning to him the next moment. "knowing that our information is being collected and the idea of Chanyeol finally finding his mate is now a reality.. there is no doubt in my mind that the council are going to want to meet him and with the council's pressure Kris is going to break-"

"He's going to come after me," Baekhyun interrupted his teacher, smiling politely to the small crowd around him. "I've had people telling me that he's trying to find me."

"Baekhyun, you don't have to explain." Chanyeol rushed to stop his soulmate from speaking, Yixing watching their interaction in confusion.

Was Chanyeol stopping Baekhyun from admitting that he knew about them? If that was the case why would he do that, now of all time?

"It's okay Chanyeol," Baekhyun reassured the Prince, he in another deep breath before blurting something even Yixing hadn't seen coming. "It just seems right that I share the information I received from the ghosts."

"Ghosts..like Casper?" Jongin choked on his saliva, eyes getting wider the longer he had the chance to register Baekhyun's information.

"If you could see the person standing behind you right now, you would retract those words immediately." The human deadpanned, snickering as Jongin leapt from his seat in fright.

"There's someone here?!" Chanyeol groaned, his forehead falling onto the tabletop before him. "Can't you just tell them to leave you alone?"

"Well I don't think he would want to be let out of your family conversation, he says it's important that he be in attendance." Baekhyun tried to convey the importance of his words through a facial expression Yixing had become accustomed to, Chanyeol still appeared to need more time adjusting to his meaningful looks.

"Do you see them often?" Kyungsoo wondered, gazing at his friend with shining eyes. "Has anyone we know talked to you?"

"I'll answer that another time!" Baekhyun chuckled, hand swiping against the back of his neck. "What I was trying to say before is that the people I have had the pleasure of meeting, they've been quite adamant on making sure I'm aware of incoming darkness."

"That's related to Kris?" The blonde vampire sitting next to Jongin spoke, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"I just assumed Kris was the darkness growing that would smite me, recently the ghosts have been getting a little antsy about it. I'm not entirely sure what to do.."

"I think it would be best if we were to leave the country," Yixing explained, his eyes finding the file below him. "Kris is preparing for war and I think it's best if we take Baekhyun out of the equation for it. We need to find someplace where he will be safe, where we can all regroup and think of a more secure plan."

"Do you really think that Appa and Katherine will let us just up and leave?" Chanyeol scoffed, though his words held no venom. "We can't exactly leave them here to be at the mercy of Kris-"

"I don't plan on doing that," Yixing proclaimed, drawing a mini gasp from Jongin. "I plan on getting all of us out, every single one of us."

"Not me," Kyle rushed to explain, the kids turning their attention to him. "Kris doesn't exactly have much on me, only that I'm Baekhyun's employer. I plan on being your source here, I have various ears to the ground so I'll be able to send you information about what the King is planning and hopefully if I time it correctly I might even be able to round up some supporters."

"Sounds reasonable." Jongin nodded his head, lips pursing. "You on the other hand," he points to Baekhyun. "Have a lot of explaining to do."

"Even though I agree with that statement," Yixing declared, clearing his throat and pinching the bridge of his nose. "we currently have a lot more pressing matters to discuss. Kris is most likely planning an attack as we speak, it's very likely that he already has and we have yet to see it play through. We need to begin talks of leaving."

"It's going to take time, which I know we don't have." Chanyeol groaned from his spot face-down on the table. "Is there any chance you can give us four days?"

Yixing took a moment to consider the time-frame, despite being a vampire who had the ability of running at the speed of light there had to be precautions taken due to Baekhyun's involvement. A simple running trip wouldn't be suitable in this scenario, for Baekhyun he was going to need some out of the country transport -preferably a small plane that wouldn't draw much attention. However finding such a thing would be difficult, no doubt prolonging their stay for a couple days.

"Four days seems like the perfect amount of time," Yixing agreed, eyes hovering between the Prince and his soulmate. "do you think you'll be able to make it work?"

Chanyeol released a playful scoff, eyes sparkling as he rose up from his face-palmed position. His lips were curled into the most playful smile Yixing had seen in awhile, his frame practically buzzed with excitement. "Who do you think you're talking to hyung? I'm Park Chanyeol, there is nothing I can't make work."