"In order to first understand the concept of 'The Council', one must first try to comprehend the origins of the vampire species. Vampire heritage has been said to have originated in Romania, Slovenia, Egypt, or more broadly Europe itself, but over the past few years our community has agreed that our species originated in Ireland."

"Eyeland?" Baekhyun wondered, head tilted to the side as he tried to pronounce the foreign land his soulmate had just uttered.

The painter wasn't a strong Geography student which was why he had decided to drop the subject for his senior year in high school, figuring that it wasn't necessary for his future. It became apparent quite quickly that Baekhyun might have to consider retaking Geography classes.

"It's Ireland sweetheart, it sounds very similar to the English word; island." Now, Baekhyun could understand.

With a delicate nod, Baekhyun encouraged his soulmate to continue in his explanation of vampire history, finding himself oddly intrigued by what he was learning.

"You are probably wondering as to why it had taken us until fairly recently to uncover our exact place of origin, this is because vampires were more interested in finding out how we can come about, not where."

"Makes sense." Baekhyun hummed. "Humans have been claiming that science was wrong when it placed our point of origin somewhere in Africa, they are more interested in finding out how we came to exist rather than where on the planet we came from. Hence why so many different religions have different origin stories, it's to keep everyone satisfied in their beliefs."

Chanyeol stared at his soulmate, eyes wide with amusement while he listened as Baekhyun ranted through his knowledge. The vampire Prince was fascinated to hear everything that had been tucked away in his soulmate's beautiful brain, but for now Chanyeol knew how important it was that Baekhyun learn about vampires.

"Well in that case, we aren't that different." Chanyeol claimed, much to Baekhyun's surprise. The vampire reached across the space between them, Baekhyun's hand already on the move to lace their fingers together. They both let out a content hum at the contact. "Vampires have long since wondered how we came to be, and a few centuries ago now, we got our answer."

"Before the Great Flood and the arks, before the Ice Ages or Hercules and his labors. Before the pyramids at Giza and before the creation of the world in which we know of it today, the Earth was inhabited by a special group of people believed to possess magical capabilities. In this world the beasts of the land terrified the small civilizations that found their homes on the landscapes, some on top of small hills or along the mountainsides. Each civilization had a particular beast they were haunted by, mere folktales in the present day world for most of these creatures cease to exist." Suho explained to Kyungsoo, who was curious to learn about the Council's role within their history. "Travelers who were too frightened to remain in their communities often found themselves deserting their home in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. However, in reality they were just exchanging one monster for another."

"Eventually the people of these communities decided that they needed to band together in order to fight off these creatures and in an attempt to do so they all travelled to the middle of the known world... Ireland." Kyungsoo continued, knowing the story up until this point. Suho nodded his head, pleased to know the vampire had learned something during his private classes with Minho.

"It was here that they met the Tuatha dé Danann." Suho supplied an often left-out part of their history. Kyungsoo blinked in surprise, obviously having never heard of the foreign words that slipped from the elder's lips.

"We just called them magical beings.." he whispered, his lips trying to curl in order to pronounce the words but he was incapable of it, this language wasn't going to be easy to replicate.

"And magical beings they were." Suho answered, a small coy smile on his lips as he watched Kyungsoo pause in his attempts of speaking the foreign words. "They each had different abilities, but with the coming of foreign people to their land, they agreed to help. They finally came to the conclusion of creating a master race, a sort of indestructible force that would be able to fight against the beasts that caused havoc on their homelands."

"So they created vampires?"

"Exactly." Suho nodded, raising from the armchair. He seemed a little unsteady on his feet, which then forced Kyungsoo to stand in case something happened. The Queen merely raised his hand, halting the chef in his advances. He offered the younger a small smile, gesturing back to his seat where Kyungsoo reluctantly sat back down. "Each of the representations of these foreign civilizations knew exactly what they needed to defeat their beast, these features were collected and then added to the spell that created the vampire species."

"What do you mean exactly?" Baekhyun wondered, head tilting as he waited for Chanyeol to explain what he meant. "What do you mean by features?"

"Well one beast was incredibly fast, the people it terrorized were never able to catch it as it was always too quick for their traps."

"So that's why you're so fast..." Baekhyun whispered, finally understanding Chanyeol's abilities. "I often blink and you're there when you weren't there a moment ago, or I'll blink and you've moved to the other side of the room before I can even comprehend it."

"Or I'm capable of keeping you pinned to the wall of the elevator while I quickly shut it down." Chanyeol smirked, watching as a blush creeped onto his soulmate's cheeks. "But yes," he continued. "That is why I'm fast."

"What else?" Baekhyun questioned.

"One of the beasts was too strong for any of their men to handle, it often broke out of their traps too so that was how we-"

"Got superhuman strength." Baekhyun's cheeks burned red as he was reminded of how easily he was to be picked up by the latter. He found it difficult to hold eye contact after that.

"We're capable of hearing and seeing really well because oftentimes these situations happened at night when it was already difficult to see anything, so our heightened senses would have helped track or prepare for a beastly attack."

"But what about your bloodlust, surely you wouldn't need that to defeat a beast?"

Chanyeol's head tilts towards the ground, his shoulders slumping on either side of his head. Baekhyun knew how difficult it was for the vampire to admit to that aspect of his life, Chanyeol had made such a point of keeping that certain situation away from Baekhyun's knowledge. But the painter knew how large of a part it was in Chanyeol's life, it was the very essence that kept Chanyeol going, kept him alive long enough for them to meet one another. The vampire had already admitted that he was strictly on an animal-blood only diet and that he hated the taste of human blood, but clearly that desire had to have been created somehow which is why Baekhyun asked the question.

"Our blood-lust and our curse of burning in the sunlight are the mere consequences of our creation. Since we survived for so long and have passed on our abilities to others, we went against the rules the Tuatha Dé Danann had laid out for our ancestors. It was agreed that once the beasts were no longer a problem to our communities, our creation would be reversed. But as you can already tell, that didn't happen. The vampires liked their new abilities and in an attempt to keep them, they decided to leave behind the lives they had known for this growing uncertainty. Pretty soon after that, the consequences started making themselves known. They could no longer leave their homes in the daylight, they lost their ability to understand nature, they were driven wild by a blood-lust that had them turning against the very people they wished to save... it was dark times for my ancestors."

"So, I'm assuming that the Council was created as a way of establishing order in a new-born vampire society." Baekhyun suggested, watching in amusement as Chanyeol was once again taken by surprise with how easily his soulmate caught on to things that had yet to be explained.

"Correct." The vampire chuckled quietly to himself, eyes glancing through the windscreen window ahead of him. They were parked in a McDonald's parking lot, their food wrappers littering their laps. "You see, those who had become vampires were volunteers from each community. But there were also some magical folk who were desperate to evolve ahead of the others and upon witnessing the creation of the vampire species -a species which was considered indestructible at the time- they willingly performed the ceremony on themselves and thus created a hybrid race. A vampire species that had magical capabilities."

"So, you're meaning to tell me, that there are vampires out there who have the ability of conjuring magic. Magic like Harry Potter level magic?" Baekhyun could feel his blood drain from his face.

"Not completely." Chanyeol reassured the painter, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into Baekhyun's knuckles. "Over time their magical abilities became clouded, before eventually only one ability shone through. It was because of them that the vampires of the present can step out beneath the sunlight and not fear of dying," Baekhyun spied the blue-stoned ring on Chanyeol's finger, the piece of jewellery having been credited with sun-protection. "It was because of them that we learned more about ourselves and what was necessary for us to survive the changing world."

"If they were so powerful, why did they allow a monarch?"

"Human history speaks of the Dark Ages, a time when plague, war and famine ran rampant through the entire world. Everyone was miserable and hungry, praying for the future to bring better days. Our community also suffered during this time, because of the dying population and the small number of animals humans still had, our food supply was running low also. You understand that it takes quite a lot for a vampire to die-"

"Being burnt by sunlight or a wooden stake to the heart." Baekhyun rhymed off what he knew. Chanyeol nodded in approval.

"So knowing that our food supply was short it made sense that we would grow hungry but-" once again Baekhyun cut in for his soulmate.

"But since you can't die, you would only suffer for as long as the time period went on..."

"Exactly." Chanyeol sighed, his thumb rubbing a little harder against Baekhyun's skin. "However, there is a way around that situation. A vampire can go into a comatose state, their bodies would shut down and start to desiccate - a little like an Egyptian mummy. This isn't what Luhan is going through, this is different. Through the process of desiccation, we would be at our weakest which means we wouldn't be able to move, speak, communicate in any way. But it allows time to pass by quicker, which is what many of the vampires in the Dark Ages did, including the Council."

"So the vampires that didn't desiccate decided that they still needed someone to rule them, hence the creation of the monarchy?"

"It was only supposed to be until the Council decided to wake up again," Chanyeol explained. "But at that stage my family had been ruling over the vampires for a few decades. When they did wake up, they realised that vampires had moved on without them and the order they had created themselves for, had already been implemented by one of my ancestors. To keep the peace between our smaller communities, the monarchy accepted to take the Council members as close advisors as their knowledge would still have use in the modern era. But I want to make something very clear to you Baekhyun, the Council that sits today, aren't the same vampires that were created thousands of years ago. Like many of us from that time period, they had decided they had seen enough of this world and chose to find peace in death, leaving their children with the responsibility to continue on the Council legacy."

"But they still have these magical capabilities that you were talking about earlier, right?"

Chanyeol nodded his head.

"So they're like the Volturi from Twilight?"

"I don't think they'd like hearing that comparison but yes, if it helps you understand, you could see it that way for sure." Chanyeol tries to hide his amusement, but Baekhyun had become accustomed to his attempts of shielding his scandalous chuckles.

Which is how he's capable of receiving over the console and gently pulling his soulmate's arm away from his mouth, Chanyeol -like the whipped sap he is- allowed the gesture. Baekhyun's heart skipped a beat as he took in the sight of his soulmate's genuine smile, rows of teeth revealed by the wide spread lips. The painter had never felt so much adoration for a single person before, and knowing Chanyeol's history, it seemed like Baekhyun's attraction was only growing.

The kiss that followed was one of necessity. There was no rush, no teasing tongue, no clash of teeth, just an innocent press of lip that made their joint hearts swore. Baekhyun giggled at the butterflies bellowing in his stomach, while Chanyeol came to a realisation of his very own.

His soulmate, a human male who would have had no place in his life, was still willing to kiss him even after learning his history. Baekhyun had been so understanding from the moment it was revealed that Chanyeol was his soulmate, the human taking it upon himself to research deeper into the concept of soulmates, so that he might understand why Chanyeol was so desperate to find him. Once he understood, he could have stepped away. He could have told the Prince, to his face, that he didn't want any part of this fantasy. Instead, Baekhyun took a leap. The painter had willingly allowed himself to step into an unknown world, had allowed himself to try and be the soulmate that Chanyeol had been dreaming of since he was a child.

Baekhyun was certainly not what Chanyeol was expecting when he found his soulmate, but now that he had gotten to know the human, been around him more, explained things better, he knew that Baekhyun was the universe's perfect pick. What other human would be capable of staying with someone for so long, after everything Baekhyun and Chanyeol had already been through? What other human would still want to be around when an inevitable war was coming?

Had their situation been reversed, Chanyeol probably wouldn't be able to do what Baekhyun does on a daily basis. If Chanyeol was the human in their relationship, there was a high probability that he would have backed out of his soulmate's world, especially if his soulmate turned out to be a vampire. Knowing everything he did about vampire-kind, Chanyeol knew that if the situation was reversed he wouldn't even consider it.

And yet, here Byun Baekhyun sat, in his passenger's seat, applying soothing kisses to Chanyeol's cheeks and lips. The smaller was a lot stronger than Chanyeol would ever be, and because of that his love could only grow.