Title: Sour Times, Sweeter Flavours

Summary: Where a vampire and a human find themselves encased in an unlikely, unsolvable scenario with so many variables there's no other option than to follow their hearts, really what was saved and what was lost?

Notes: I love writing fantasy so much!! I love world-building and alternate universes so requests like this really get me going.

Warning! There's quite a vivid depiction of blood and stabbing! So if you're sensitive to descriptions of blood or violence, I suggest you tread carefully. This is a trigger warning.

A/N: Eh, been a while hasn't it? Apologies for that. My last semester before summer break has finally begun and this time around I have a lot fewer courses, so I think I'll have a lot more time to spend on writing. Anticipate that, I guess. I'll be getting into the requests I've been putting off for the longest time. I'll try my best and I hope that'll be enough! Thanks a lot! Happy reading ^^

♥️ Damia

It was midday when Tiffany woke up. She groaned and grumbled in her silken sheets, the pure white covers smelling of vanilla, honeydew and blood. Not just any blood though, but the blood of someone special.

Tiffany sighed in contentment, inhaling deeply and burrowing deeper into the sheets. Perhaps it was odd for someone to bask in the scent of blood, but Tiffany loved it. The detergent the beddings had been washed with was fragranced but not as strong as to dampen the biting smell of spilt blood. As a vampire, Tiffany could easily tell just who the blood belonged to. Her girl, Taeyeon, who also was a Venus. Venus was the most elite selection of Blood Banks from the Korean Vampire Catering Service (KVCS), so in Tiffany’s opinion quite fitting to Taeyeon’s excellency.

You see, this drowsy woman currently rolling in her queen size bed was a vampire. Not just any vampire though, but a royal one. Vampires had surfaced from their stigma of being a fantasy creature in the 2020s, and now, in the third millennium, had become somewhat blue-blooded. Not only did they have their roots set in the early 18th-century Russian monarchy, but even now they’d climbed to high positions in human society, going as far as marrying into royal families and getting high positions in human governments.

As was expected from approximately 980 years of development, the world had changed since the Vampiric Revolution, during which the species made themselves known. The new trendy form of government had become monarchy and if that was connected to the vampires’ existence, couldn’t be confirmed. Places like former Canada and the United States had unified into the Kingdom of Northern America, currently, the largest country in terms of land area to have a reigning human monarch, though with a parliament more than half-vampire. Their land mass currently exceeded that of the Russian empire by more than one million square meters. Though, most notably to the story at hand, the countries in Asia had also shifted quite a bit. Not only had Japan regained their colonial mindset with the Ainu people taking over the government. Surprisingly, the relatively small country of South Korea hadn’t expanded their land or even lost any of it significantly, unlike many of the surrounding territories. That wasn’t to say though, that they hadn’t evolved just as much.

South Korea was a vampire lead dynasty, much resembling the rule of the Joseon dynasty with some modern European influencers. The reigning monarch, Choi Siwon and the Queen Consort, his wife, Kwon BoA were famous for their modern ways of being king and queen. Not only did both of them retain their family names even after marrying, but they did not abide by the tradition that an heir was to be conceived on their wedding night or that the king was the only one permitted concubines. Kwon BoA’s child before marriage to another man, Hwang Tiffany was named heir to the kingdom. Tiffany had been thirteen when her mother married into the royal family, Prince Siwon having proposed to her in a Cinderella-esque fashion. At first, the public response to her being the heritor had been hostile, but as time passed and Tiffany proved herself to be a worthy queen, the outrage began to die down.

“What time is it?” The crown princess, the one heritor of her nation, mumbled to no one in particular.

“It is 12:14 pm, your grace.” A calm, distinctly low voice reverberated around the room, tingling in Tiffany’s ears. It brought a smile to her sleepy face.

“Taeyeon-ie…” She cooed happily, gesturing for the woman to come closer. She obeyed.

“Would you like a snack before breakfast, your grace?”

“I told you to call me Tiffany when we’re alone.” The princess nipped punishingly at the nape of the other woman’s neck. She could hear her heartbeat speed up, the slight pain but the ever-present excitement whirring up her sensitive body. Humans got riled up so easily, Tiffany knew. Especially Taeyeon, especially around her.

“Would you like a snack be—”

“Yes,” Tiffany said, cutting the human off. She leaned in close to Taeyeon, wrapping her arms around her body, holding her safe and secure while she mouthed at her neck. Once the area she’d feed on was sufficiently wet with saliva, which had some aphrodisiacs and a slight numbing effect, she sunk in. Her canines elongated just a bit, forming sharp points that pierced into Taeyeon’s delicate, thin neck like a knife into soft butter.

She on the puncture marks wantonly, at the taste of Taeyeon’s blood. To regular humans, drinking blood wasn’t necessarily a pleasant thing and even if some were into that sort of thing, it didn’t actually taste good. A vampire had different taste buds. What to humans was like swallowing liquid pennies, to Tiffany was like delectable creme brulee.

Taeyeon was a mostly ordinary woman, born into the middle class to two loving parents in between her older brother and younger sister. She’d lived a mundane life until she was scouted by KVCS. The Korean Vampire Catering Service was an organization dedicated to finding the best possible sustenance for vampires, which was humans. Animal blood was sufficient to keep a normal vampire alive and was recommendable to prepubescent vampires to avoid severe blood dependency. For adult vampires, though, and especially those of blood ties to the forefathers, human blood was the best option. The organization had a caste system that dealt regular servings of blood of certain quality to customers based on their personal needs and, of course, payment. The caste system was divided into four different levels, which go as such, from the lowest to highest: Luna, Gaia, Zeus and Venus. 

This caste system categorizes humans. Humans willing to serve as blood banks to vampires, who are arguably the superior race, and in exchange get compensation for their service financially. The Luna, Gaia and Zeus castes all consist of applicants who are voluntarily evaluated, then placed into the caste system. They donate blood regularly to the organization which delivers them to the customers, the vampires. The fourth and highest caste, Venus, is a bit different though…

“Your- your grace, you’re taking… Taking more than what is appropriate for, ah, a snack!” Taeyeon’s voice was pitchy and uneven, so unlike her usual calm and demure demeanour. Tiffany detached from the human woman but didn’t completely remove herself from her. She at the wound, cleaning away any blood that might’ve trickled past her lips. Deliberately, she lathed her tongue all over Taeyeon’s neck, pointedly right on her pulse point to leave a mark.

“Hmm… You are more than a snack, Taeyeon-ie, I felt it was only appropriate.” Giggling at her girl’s dazed face, Tiffany kissed her cheek. “You are my woman after all. I take what I want when I want.” She kissed another kiss right on Taeyeon’s slightly parted lips, lingering and into .

“I’ve told you countless times, your grace, no kissing after feeding.” Taeyeon turned her head away from the vampire, pulling away. Tiffany didn’t let her very far though since with her superior strength Taeyeon was easily pulled back to bed.

“Why’re you so strict all the time, Taeyeon-ie?” Tiffany whined, much like the spoilt princess she was.

“I wouldn’t be if you listened to me otherwise,” Taeyeon shot a pointed glare her way. “Your grace.” She added belatedly, having almost forgotten to add the title.

“Who the hell cares if you call me your grace or not. Loosen up, Tae.” Getting irritated with the human girl’s stiffness, Tiffany threw the covers off of her and bounced up. She went to her closet to get clothes for the day.

“Uhm… Your grace? Can you, uh, get me some too?” Taeyeon’s voice was shaky, but in a more jittery way than before. Tiffany turned to look at her quizzically, only to grin wide at the sight of her flushed red, holding the covers up to her chin. She’d spent last night warming the princess’ bed, so naturally and knowing Tiffany, she didn’t have any clothes. The ripped up rags that had once been Taeyeon’s uniform were uselessly spread out on the floor of the princess’ grand suite.

“Hmm, and why would I do that?” Tiffany leaned on the doorway to the closet, teasingly baring her just as body to Taeyeon, who looked away abashedly. “Why would I do that when you were, oh, so mean to me just before?”

“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, your grace.” Taeyeon put on a brave face as if she wasn’t literally at a vampire’s mercy. Tiffany was superior to her in all physical aspects, more intelligent as far as general knowledge goes and definitely more resourceful, considering she was the crown princess. Not to mention the vampire practically owned her.

“I’m a vampire, Taeyeon. It’s what I do.”

This morning wasn’t much different from all their other mornings. More often than not Taeyeon would rise with the sun in Tiffany’s bed while the princess slept soundly. Sometimes she’d get up and put on her clothes, but Tiffany rarely ever left her uniform intact. As she wasn’t permitted to roam around, she couldn’t go into Tiffany’s closet to clothe herself, she’d stay in bed until the princess gave her explicit permission to wear her clothes until she was able to fetch a new uniform.

Taeyeon was a Venus. She’d been discovered by a KVCS scout when she’d been donating blood. The scout had been a vampire, a highly trained one to look for humans with particular blood. The flavour profile of blood wasn’t something that was backed up by science, because much of the chemical compounds that affected flavour, like acidity or esters, did not stimulate the taste buds of vampires. You could say that vampire’s had a dulled sense of taste, at least when it came to human food. For example, they had a hard time tasting sugars, so fruit for example tasted like nothing.

However, what they lose in food gets made up in blood. Blood is a vampire’s life source, without it, they will