Ryeowook couldn’t have pinpointed when it started, but at some point, his surroundings started to get brighter with each time that he jolted awake from nearly falling asleep. They were back in the forest, the horses moving at a slow pace. One of Kyuhyun’s hands had come to rest on Ryeowook’s arm and the prince was certain that it was merely to make sure that he wouldn’t fall and not so much for comfort or the wish to be close.

Additionally to Ryeowook’s entire body being sore, the coughing had returned at some point and he felt cold, so incredibly cold.

“I think there’s a place where we can rest.”

The words needed a moment to register in Ryeowook’s mind, then he slowly raised his head, staring ahead over Kyuhyun’s shoulder. At first, he couldn’t figure out what Kyuhyun was talking about: a cave? A hut? A house? Some tree that happened to have grown in a way that it would hide them well? Finally, he spotted something that he figured might be what Kyuhyun was aiming at.

“I’m sorry, I guess it’s a small down-step from what you’re used to. But it’ll keep us safe for the time being.”

“The owner won’t notice?”

“It’s not hunting season right now, so there shouldn’t be anyone coming here these days. But while we’re on that topic: do you think your family or staff already noticed that you’re missing?”

Ryeowook got more comfortable again and shook his head while leaning it against Kyuhyun’s back. His entire body seemed too heavy for him to hold it up on his own…

“No?” Soft laughter trembled through Kyuhyun’s body, making Ryeowook frown at the slight disturbance from his comfortable position before smiling at the thought that he had made the other laugh. “You’re a prince! I shouldn’t be able to kidnap you just like that without anyone looking for you shortly.”

“The other day, I was in the library all day… My brother found me when they started looking for me for dinner because no one had seen me that day.” He yawned, trying to stay awake this time because it was almost time to get off the horse again. Thinking about it—poor horse! It had carried both of them for such a long time…

“Hey, time to get moving.”

Ryeowook opened his eyes quickly, blinking. Were they standing? Hadn’t he planned on staying awake? He sat up in confusion, eyes fixating on the small hut in front of him before movement distracted him—and suddenly, Kyuhyun wasn’t sitting in front of him anymore but instead stood beside the horse, holding a hand out for him.

“Need help?”

Ryeowook shook his head, unsure whether he had just briefly fallen asleep again or Kyuhyun had simply moved at vampire speed. He looked down, certain about the steps he had to take, but his body still took a bit longer until it could stiffly carry out the movements. The moment he set foot on the ground, his legs nearly gave in. An arm was wrapped around him in a split second, holding him upright.

“Thank you.” Ryeowook sorted out his body and stretched a little, but after the endless hours of sitting on a horseback, he felt like he couldn’t even close his legs properly without them hurting. He groaned, followed by a dry cough, then he finally managed to steady himself.

“Let’s get you inside.”

“But the horses—“

“—are still in a better condition than you. Come on.”

Ryeowook looked back and forth between the horses and the hut, but another coughing fit helped him make a decision. He followed Kyuhyun into the hut and simply watched as the other quickly—though still in human pace—set up the bed with the things he had brought. “There, now you can sleep properly. Are you cold? Hot?”

“Cold, actually.”

“Okay. Get into bed, I’ll make some fire.”

“But what about…” Before Ryeowook could finish his sentence, Kyuhyun had left the hut again. “… you?” he added quietly. He turned towards the bed, ready to put up a fight since he could probably sleep anywhere, maybe even while standing, but he had a feeling that Kyuhyun wouldn’t give him a chance to win. Accepting his unchallenged defeat, he went over to the bed and was still getting under the blanket when Kyuhyun came back into the hut, his arms full of firewood, flashing the prince a smile.

Ryeowook watched the other stacked the logs in the fireplace that had been put into the middle of the small hut, then the pile lit up with the snap of Kyuhyun’s fingers. Ryeowook’s jaw dropped the floor, unable to comprehend what had just happened. He registered Kyuhyun laughing, but couldn’t take his eyes of the fire, blinking, rubbing his eyes even, but the fire was still there, burning peacefully, crackling quietly.

“How…”

“I told you about our powers, didn’t I?” Ryeowook nodded his head, tearing his eyes away from the fire and to Kyuhyun who still watched him in clear amusement. “How do you think I do my fire art? How do you think fire can show you clear images during my shows when it can’t do the same when you light a normal fire?”

“So I did see all those things?”

“Yes.”

“You actually put them in there?”

“Also yes.”

Ryeowook could hear the barely constrained laughter in Kyuhyun’s voice as his eyes were drawn back to the fire, disbelief and awe overshadowing his embarrassment. “Is this a fever dream?”

“Should I show you again when you feel better?”

“Yes, please.”

“Alright.”

Ryeowook shook his head lightly, but the fire was still there. He wanted to ask more, but the tiredness suddenly hit him with full force and he yawned once again.

Kyuhyun rose to his feet. “Go to sleep, I’ll take care of everything else. Or do you need your medicine again?”

Ryeowook was tempted to turn the offer down, but he nodded instead, knowing that falling asleep could be difficult otherwise. He took his bundle back from Kyuhyun, accepted another reminder to drink something before going to sleep, then Kyuhyun left the hut. Ryeowook took his medicine, drowning the bitter taste with the remaining water he had left, then he lay down. Despite a few more coughs, he fell asleep almost right away.

☆ ☆ ☆

He drifted in and out of consciousness, never sure whether the demons were real or not. Sometimes, he was held and seemed to be moving, sometimes he was lying, always caught between fire and ice, coughs and nausea, weakness and uncomfortableness, all of it mixing in an infinite blur.

☆ ☆ ☆

Until one time, Ryeowook woke up and coughing wasn’t his very first instinct.

He sat up slowly, unsure where he was. He was in a hut, but… How much time had passed? He remembered running away, darkness surrounding them, changing horses… They had found a hut that night, hadn’t they? It all seemed to blur together and was finally shaken even more out of place by a coughing fit.

The door was opened, allowing even more sunlight into the small place. What time of the day was it even? He reached for his water bottle, surprised and grateful to find it full. It was only after drinking something and the dry feeling in his throat finally subsiding, taking along the urge to cough, that he could pay more attention to his surroundings and spotted Kyuhyun in the doorframe. Their eyes met and Ryeowook’s heart skipped a beat. How could the other look so handsome while doing absolutely nothing extraordinary?

“You look better.”

“Thanks,” Ryeowook replied automatically before a sudden worry took over: how on earth had Kyuhyun just seen him the last few… however long? Suddenly, he wished that he could just pull the blanket over his head and disappear. “Where are we? For how long have we been… away?”

“We’re in the Cheolsan region. Tomorrow, we’ll leave for Dalian.”

“What?” Ryeowook blinked, staring at Kyuhyun, but the other neither took his words back nor repeated them. If they were at Cheolsan… “How long as passed since the night I ran away?”

“Two days.”

“Two days?” Those were two days that he had not a single memory of aside from feeling awful. “And tomorrow…”

“There’s a servant who will let us get on the ship without getting discovered. So even though the ship will only take off tomorrow in the morning, you and I will board it tonight.”

“And then we’ll been in Dalian…” How could he have missed out on so much? “What about the horses?”

“They’re outside.” Kyuhyun nodded towards the outside world. “I found a messenger when I went into town earlier and told him to go to the capital tomorrow to let the merchant know where his horses have gone off to.”

Ryeowook’s gaze wavered as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had just heard, but his eyes landed on the firepit and another shimmer of a memory crossed his mind. “Fire… you can control it.”

“Yes.” Kyuhyun’s voice was solemn.

Sudden excitement sparked in Ryeowook and sat a little straighter. “I can still get my private fire show!”

A moment of silence passed before Kyuhyun burst out laughing. Ryeowook watched, stunned when Kyuhyun couldn’t seem to control the laughter, holding on to the door frame as he bent over, laughing breathlessly.

The growling of Ryeowook’s stomach interrupted his stunned silence and he looked down at it. How long had it been since he had eaten something?

“Help yourself,” Kyuhyun gasped, motioning into the general direction of the other side of the small hut.

Ryeowook threw Kyuhyun a suspicious glance but got up anyway, sitting down a mere heartbeat later when a wave of dizziness made his knees weak. It was only on the second, much slower try that he actually managed to get up and Kyuhyun seemed to slowly overcome his laughing fit.

Ryeowook sat down on the hammock in front of a small, slightly wobbly table, exhausted from just that small bit of movement. He leaned one elbow on the table, keeping it steady like that while he rummaged through the basket that rested on the surface. He found some dried fruits, rice, and bread.

His stomach growled once again and he hungrily took out the loaf of bread, breaking off some of it and putting it in his mouth, almost at the taste. Seriously, how long had it been since he had last eaten something?

Kyuhyun came over and sat down across from Ryeowook, watching him. The latter motioned towards the basket. “Aren’t you gonna eat anything?” he asked between two bites, but Kyuhyun shook his head.

“No, I’m good, I had something small when I was in town. Besides, it’s good to finally see you eat something.”

“I really didn’t eat anything these last few days?”

“You were barely even conscious. I was grateful for every chance during which I could make you drink something.”

“Is it usually like this?” Ryeowook looked at the loaf of bread in his hands that had gotten surprisingly small and, after a small moment of hesitation, attempted to put it away, but Kyuhyun stopped him.

“Eat, if your body can take it. I don’t want you throwing up, but I also need you to become strong quickly. On the night we arrive, we’ll have to leave Dalian and I don’t think I’ll be able to organize horses for us once again.”

“How long does it take for us to reach Dalian?”

“It’ll be a two-day trip. I thought about staying on board until we arrive in Tianjin, but that’s not only too close to the capital for my liking, but I also don’t think we’ll have that much time.”

“Wait, you’ve been to China before?” Ryeowook asked, surprised about how well Kyuhyun seemed to know Chinese geography.

“Only once, so far, but yes, I have.”

“So what are our travel details?” Ryeowook finally decided against eating more of the bread, but therefore took some of the dried fruit while he listened to Kyuhyun filling him in on the full plan.

Way too soon, darkness reached into the hut and Kyuhyun got up once again, lighting the firepit in the middle of the room.

“Doesn’t the fire hurt you? Isn’t it hot for you?” Ryeowook asked once Kyuhyun sat by his side again. There was so much he wanted to know, and for the first time, he felt like he actually had the chance to ask and no time pressure.

Kyuhyun looked surprised for a moment, then he shook his head. “It can’t hurt me, no. Of course I have to be careful not to burn anything. Believe me, there have been countless accidents on my journey of learning how control this element.” A shadow crossed over Kyuhyun’s features, but it was gone a heartbeat later and he kept on talking before Ryeowook got the chance to point it out. “Let’s say, I can feel the fire’s heat, but it’s not… scorching for me? It feels comfortable, actually.”

“How did you find out about your power?”

“I didn’t tell you?” When Ryeowook shook his head, Kyuhyun continued, “That was also an accident, actually. You see, there are active and passive powers. Active ones, we can learn to control and they cost energy, passive ones can include things like seeing auras, that’s at least the only passive power I have heard of so far. The active ones are more common, as far as I know, and while they can be very helpful in many cases, they can also be used to cause great harm. Many of us learn about our powers when we’re angry, actually, and the strong emotions cause our powers to show… Once we know what they are, we have to find ways to control them, which is honestly much easier said than done.”

“What other powers do you know of?”

“Since I can control fire, I’m guessing that there are vampires out there who can control the other elements. I’ve heard of someone talking to animals, I’ve seen vampires who can move things by mere willpower and someone who could talk to us in our heads, though he couldn’t hear our thoughts…”

The question about Kyuhyun’s sire lay on the tip of Ryeowook’s tongue, but he swallowed it, not wanting to bring back any unpleasant memories. “I wonder what power I will have…”

“Me too. From what I’ve seen from you so far, I could bet that it has something to do with empathy or helping others, but I’m curious about what exactly it will be. But when we’re speaking about you anyway…”

“Yes?”

“There are still a few things that I have to tell you about the process of being turned.”

“Aside from the fact that I can’t walk in sunlight at first?”

“Yes, though that is definitely a very essential point to remember. Do you think you’ll be able to handle some… not-so-pretty facts?”

Ryeowook nodded. He didn’t have a choice, so why prolong the truth if he could just as well use the time to learn it by heart and know what was expecting him in the very near future?

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As always, I'm looking forward to hearing from you, to hear what you think about this chapter. And I wish for all of you to be healthy!