Prologue

Beautiful

The only disadvantage Joohyun saw to being immortal was that her day to day life soon got incredibly boring. Sure, the first few centuries were fun, she reveled in the wanton mayhem and bloodshed that most of her kind lived for. To this day she still fondly remembered spending the latter half of the seventeenth century basically drunk on a blood high. But like most fun things, eventually the novelty wore off.

Newborn vampires had it lucky, she thought as she strode through the halls of her Family’s mansion. She supposed the upside to paying taxes for the last four hundred years meant that there wasn’t a single material thing on this Earth that she couldn’t afford. Her Family’s mansion included. Situated in the heart of one of Seoul’s most expensive housing districts in Gangnam, Joohyun decided to settle down and spend the next portion of her unlife doing her best to make sure humanity never learned of the supernatural community.

Vampires weren’t the only terrors that lurked in the alleyways of Seoul. Some species were rarer than others of course, but over the course of her incredibly long life Joohyun had pretty much seen it all. Werewolves, Fae, Skinstealers (she shuddered involuntarily thinking about the sneaky little ers)…regardless of their proclivity for hunting humans there was one shared rule among them all. Humanity must NEVER find out about their existence. Let them have their badly written movies about sparkling vampires and demons. The false mythos would help them maintain their secrecy.

Of course humanity had come close to learning about them on several occasions. The first in Joohyun’s memory being of a rogue alpha werewolf in the early eighteenth century who had taken to mauling villagers outside of Busan. “Disposing” of him had proved to be quite the challenge for a fledgling Joohyun. She hated thinking of herself as a good guy though. Far from it, in fact. Hunting for sport was allowed (and encouraged), but it had to be done discreetly She’d committed more than her fair share of murder, earning her a place in humanity’s history books as the “Pale Lady”. The difference between her and the crazy werewolf? She was smart enough to make sure her kills were never seen.

Hunting humans was one of the few things that gave her joy anymore, and she relished in the hunt. With technology evolving at the pace it was, hunting in the era of facial recognition meant she had to be even more cautious about her marks. Weeks of research would go into her researching her next meal. Gone were the days of yanking some random passerby into an alley; she had to play to her strengths.

“Joohyun!” a familiar voice called out her name, jolting her back into the present. She turned, arching one perfectly manicured eyebrow as her second-in-command approached her.

“Sooyoung, I thought you were getting ready for tonight’s Council meeting.” Park Sooyoung had been one of Joohyun’s first successful fledglings. What was immortality if you couldn’t share it with someone, right? She had found Sooyoung over a hundred years ago, bleeding to death outside the house of a local gang leader. To this day Sooyoung wouldn’t reveal why she had been over at the man’s house, but Joohyun never pried. Her Second’s past was of no issue to her, what mattered was the present.

“I don’t know why you insist on our Family attending these useless meetings every year. It’s always the same; we get into a fight with the ‘wolves over territory, the witches gloat over being able to hunt in public without attracting attention, the Fae get super drunk and try to convince the Skinstealers to do impressions and don’t even get me started on the Gumiho…” she continues rambling for several minutes and Joohyun lets her. It’s a way for the younger woman to let off some steam.

She appreciated Sooyoung heading their Family’s affairs with the Korean Council though. Joohyun never was much of a people person. Over a thousand years ago, long before Joohyun became a vampire, the supernatural community created a combined council, a managing body so to speak. Representatives from each major species in an area were required to attend yearly meetings to go over politics and hunting grounds. Attendance was mandatory. And as the Matriarch (Ugh, Joohyun hated that outdated term for the leader of a vampire Family) of Seoul’s most powerful vampire clan, she was the face for her species in South Korea.

Joohyun waited until Sooyoung had run out of complaints before answering her question. “You and I both know that attendance is mandatory.”

“Come on, what’s the worst that can happen if we don’t go?” her Second asked. As soon as the words left the entire mansion rumbled ominously. Sooyoung yelped, clutching the nearby wall to keep her balance. Joohyun merely weathered it, examining her fingernails with disinterest until the tremor passed.

That’s why,” she replied, the smallest of smiles on her face appearing. “When the original Council was formed a complicated ritual was performed to ensure the cooperation of every species. I wasn’t around so I don’t know the specifics but let’s just say we don’t even think about not attending. A representative must attend, end of discussion.”

Sooyoung frowned, glancing up at the ceiling as if she was afraid to provoke another tremor. “Fine. You’re going with me this year though. And don’t give me that face, unnie. The ‘wolves have a new representative this year and according to the rules that means every species’ Alpha or whatever has to attend in order to perform the necessary binding ritual.”       

Joohyun was surprised. She knew werewolves were a combative species by nature and they determined their Alpha according to a rather outdated and extremely ist method. But their last Alpha had been attending council meetings for the last half-century. What the hell had happened to him? “Maybe this time we’ll get an Alpha who’s smart enough to stop encroaching on our territory, it’s hard enough finding a decent meal these days without those mutts interfering.”

She didn’t notice Sooyoung’s small frown upon her use of the term “mutt”. Her Second cleared , “Just try not to insult them again this year, unnie.”

Joohyun grinned, showing off her fangs. “But it’s so much fun to mess with them. And if I’m required to go, the least I can do is make it a little less boring.”

Sooyoung sighed, “You almost provoked a war with them. And need I remind you that they outnumber us three to one.”

Joohyun knew that her Second had put her foot down. She pouted, puffing her cheeks out in an adorable example of aegyo that only Sooyoung was allowed to see. “Bah, you’re no fun. Fine, I swear on my honor as Matriarch that I’ll behave at tonight’s Council meeting. Happy?”

“Peachy,” was Sooyoung’s response as the younger girl pulled out her cell phone and began tapping out a message. A little miffed that her faithful fledgling was now ignoring her in favor of whoever she was texting, Joohyun sped forward to grab Sooyoung’s phone from her fingers. “Ah, unnie don’t. That’s private.”

Joohyun scanned over the conversation with this “Katie” person Sooyoung was talking to, quickly becoming disinterested in the blatantly flirty exchange going on. Not even gossiping captured her interest anymore. “I told you no dating until you’re one hundred and fifty.”

“I told you no dating until you’re one hundred and fifty,” Sooyoung mimicked, snatching back her phone and locking it. “You know if life’s gotten that boring for you Joohyun why don’t you take your own advice and start looking for a mate?”

Joohyun scoffed at the idea. “I don’t need a mate. Mates are an outdated ideal that lesser species like ‘wolves prattle on about.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes at her Matriarch’s words. Joohyun had always bucked the notion of mates, something Sooyoung never quite understood. Why wouldn’t you want to find someone special? “I’m not saying you need to commit and find one now, but wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to share your life with?”

“I have you.”

Sooyoung snorted. “And I love you too, but I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my unlife with you. Besides, I’ve seen you and I gotta say, didn’t do it for me.”

Joohyun gasped, feigning insult. Sooyoung laughed, a high clear sound that resonated through the mansion halls. “You take that back Park Sooyoung!”

“Never.” Joohyun sighed as her Second once again got distracted by her buzzing phone. “Damn, I have to take this. Look, I’ll have a car pick us up tonight at ten, make sure you wear something nice!”

Joohyun waved her off, knowing she’d long since lost Sooyoung to whoever “Katie” was. Her Second was lovesick, and if that’s how distracted attraction could make someone, she really didn’t want a mate.

But maybe, just maybe, her life would get a little more interesting…

 

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Drachesoul
Had to post SOMETHING for Wendy's birthday, even if she isn't appearing this chapter. Now I gotta make up for missing Seulgi's birthday earlier this month :(

Comments

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Oct_13_wen_03 36 streak #1
please update more author nim😭😭😭😭
Oct_13_wen_03 36 streak #2
Chapter 4: update please author nim 😭😭😭
888rolyat
71 streak #3
Wow this is really cool
bbonz01 #4
Chapter 4: waiting for the story to be updated authornim.
This is a good one.
Waterbetter #5
I'm still waiting authornim,fighting!!!!
EzraSeige
#6
Chapter 4: Wow
seulsorbit
#7
Chapter 3: your supernatural world building is impressive! Makes me wanna learn so much about each delegation hehe
born10966 #8
Chapter 1: I have just started to read the story and I'm already hooked. Good start. I think is funny but is going to get complicated with people trying to get powerful and dominant. I'm ready for the ride.
KkapJpwn #9
Chapter 3: And the plot thickens
shinchan222 #10
Chapter 2: I am really hooked up with this story even though it has only 2 chapters. And the plot is really very interesting can't wait for the upcoming updates.