Chapter 6

 

 

The waterwheel of Jisungs hut had stopped rotating, Felix noticed when he went to the hut. He sighed and went to it to find the problem. Ever since this wheel had caused problems, wasn’t functioning, and didn’t even help the tribe with anything. He remembered Jisungs father suggesting to dismantle the wheel, but Jisung had declined. The wolf liked the waterwheel, he’d often told Felix that the wheel was the perfect gimmick for his hut and that one day he would find someone who’d love it as much as he did.

 

A soft smile showed on Felix's lips. His friend was romantic although he’d never admit it. The blonde wolf wasn’t good in technical things like this, but he had to at least try fixing the waterwheel. It was something his friend cherished after all and right now, Jisung wasn’t here to fix it himself. The chief's son sighed. He wondered if Jisung was okay, he prayed he was. He’d been missing for four now and ever since then, everything seemed to drift apart.

 

Jisung wasn’t their chief, he wasn’t the wise man his father was, no, Jisung wasn’t even the next chief. He was just a wolf of the tribe, like everybody else but he was so precious to so many wolves who kept their tribe running, that his missing a huge hit in their daily lives. Chan, who had been busy with representing their father, was absent almost every day, searching for his best friend. The wise man Han still managed to maintain his feelings when he was with the other oldest of the tribe but Felix had seen him at night through the window of his hut holding a stuffed animal of his son, broken and sobbing. And then Felix himself. He made sure to visit Jisungs hut whenever he found time. He tried to hold all strings together as long as Chan was looking for Jisung, as long as his brother needed him to do. But every single day when the sunset, he found himself walking to his friend's hut, wishing the older would greet him with his bright smile that could cheer up every wolf of the tribe. It’s the sixth evening without Jisung.

 

“Oh, there…!”, Felix said to himself, kneeling on the ground and put his arm into the river. Soon he found the Stone that prevented the wheel to turn and moved it away. The wheel started moving immediately and Felix nodded satisfied. “Don’t worry, it’s working again, Jisungie. I’ll take care of your home as long as you can’t.”, he whispered into the wood and entered Jisungs home.

 

He knew Chan began to clean it a little and Felix continued. For the last days, he’d took the laundry from above the stairs, folded it, and sorted it into Jisungs dresser, he’d wiped the dust and organized some of his stuff, keeping in mind to not rearrange his room, just clean it. Yesterday he moped his hut and today he’d nothing left to do, feeling lost.

 

Felix sighed deep and sat down on the couch in the hut. Now that there was nothing left to do, he felt sadness rattle in again. He’d never been the toughest of the toughest, was always fast to shed tears. Chan and Jisung had told him, it was a good side of him. That he was capable of showing his true emotions. His father and Chan were good in hiding them, very good to be correct. But Jisung was kind of like Felix, he showed his feelings, too. But in a stressful way, like Chan loved to describe. Jisung wore his heart on his sleeves while Felix showed his feelings through his body language. It made them different, but they both weren’t capable of lying for long.

 

He reached out to a small straw doll on the table and smiled. Felix had made it when they were children. He remembered when they sat at the Millers' house, playing with the barley, and began to craft a doll out of the straw. Felix gifted him to Jisung and he got his in return. The day the blonde was sorting some of Jisungs stuff he found it and was surprised that he still owned it. The first tears were running down Felix's cheeks and he wiped them away with his hands. “You’re an idiot, Jisung. Why did you leave? Why…?”, he whispered broken into the silence. “We need you here.”

 

Felix noticed that he wasn’t wishing to find his friend at home anymore. When he’d entered the hut, he’d always prayed Jisung to be here but not today. He got used to his empty home which was still filled with his warmth. The first evenings he even walked up the stairs, thinking he’d find Jisung in his bed, sleeping. Later he didn’t take the stairs anymore and today he sat on the couch right away without looking for his friend. Had he lost hope? Why was he still coming here?

 

The door opened and for a second Felix felt the small lightness of hope rising in him only get destroyed right away, leaving a heavy stitch in his heart. “Chan…”, he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

 

“You’re still here, Felix? You’re still here every day?” Chan asked and limbed to his brother, sitting down next to him.

 

“Are you hurt? What happened?” The younger put the straw doll back on the table and began to examine Chan with his eyes. “Where have you been? You’ve been away for two days now! Do you know how worried everyone was?”

 

“I was looking for Jisung…you know that.” He took Felix's hands which were running over his body, searching for injuries. “I’m fine. Just exhausted, I was on my feet for two days straight. My legs need some rest now.”

 

“Have you found him?” If yes, Jisung wasn’t with him. Felix wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer to his question, but Chan shook his head. “Nothing.”, he answered but his voice was different. He might not have found Jisung, but Felix knew his brother long enough to know that he found something. Something that made him uncomfortable. “What is it…?”, he asked, afraid of the answer he might get.

 

“I don’t want to scare you, Felix. It’s probably nothing.”

 

“Then you can tell me, big brother. I am old enough for this and you told yourself you haven’t found anything out about Jisung.” There couldn’t be anything scarier than bad news of Jisung, right?

 

Chan looked at him for a while and nodded. “While I was searching for Ji, I met some of the Kim tribe, the shapeshifter clan.”

 

“Did they…did they do anything to you? Why were you so far away from home?” They weren’t on best terms with the shapeshifters, Felix knew that. But they weren’t enemies neither. Still, he didn’t want to meet two of them alone in the woods.

 

“I looked for Ji everywhere around here so I figured I had to move further. I tried my luck in their area, but I did it not only because of Jisung, you know…” His voice became more silent at the end. “You know, father is with them right now, discussing a way to become partners.”

 

Felix nodded. “Yes, he is.” They wanted to partner up with the shapeshifters. The Vampires began to become more of a threat lately and their father thought that being on good, no on friendly terms with the shapeshifters would put both tribes in a better position.

 

“I wanted to tell him Jisung is missing, to ask him for advice.”, Chan mumbled. “When he left I told him not to worry, Felix. But what now? Now Jisung is missing and I have no idea what to do anymore. I just, wanted to talk to him.”

 

“What did he say…?” Felix took Chan's hands, pressing them slightly for support.

 

“I couldn’t talk to him. I meet two people. One carried the other on his back, he looked beaten up a lot. I didn’t want to get their attention but I was in a hurry so the one walking noticed me right away. As soon as he saw me, he tensed up, asking me, what I was wanting from them.” Chan sighed and shook his head. “When I was able to assure him that I didn’t have anything bad in mind, it turned out that I was talking to Minho, the personal guard of their prince and he was carrying his prince on his back…”

 

“But- but he was hurt!”, Felix pointed out and Chan nodded. Felix had heard stories of the Shapeshifter prince. People said he shifted into the most beautiful dhole and was an even more beautiful human.

 

“Minho told me they had a confrontation with some vampires while they were outside of the tribe. I offered him my help, he looked exhausted, almost drained out, but he didn’t want me to help. He asked me to leave, Felix. He wouldn’t let me come with them to see father. I thought if I would put more pressure on him, he was going to jump at me, so I let him go and went back. But…something isn’t right there, Felix.”

 

The younger nodded. “Right. It’s strange. Why wouldn’t he let you visit our father? Have you asked for Jisung?”

 

Chan sighed. “I did. He told me, that only my father was with them, but that he hadn’t left the hut with their king for days. The negotiations must be very hard, I fear.”

 

“Possible…”, Felix mumbled. “But why would he think you wanted to hurt them…? This won’t get in my head.”

 

“Maybe because of the fight they might have had before. He seemed still under shock to me.”

 

The younger lend back at his brother's shoulder. “I wish father was here. He would know what to do Chan…”

 

“Yes, I am sure he would.”

 

 

Jisung felt cold. He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting on this hard ground, how long he was wearing the chains around his wrists. He didn’t know how long since he was robbed of his eyesight. It must have been days. Days without any voice, any presence of anything. It was just him, the darkness, and the cold floor and walls.

 

Jisung scoffed. Mr. Park must have meant what he said. Jisung should suffer and he did. He knew that Hyunjin visited him every day, giving him one paper cup of water and one slice of bread. They didn’t want him to starve to death, but Jisung felt so weak he almost thought about death as the only way out of this situation. Hyunjin also didn’t talk to him. He did what he was advised to do and left.

 

The only person who talked to him every day was the one, Jisung wanted to hear the less. Every evening, Mr. Park came to his place with Hyunjin, asking him, once Hyunjin was out of the room if Jisung finally gave up. If he was ready to follow his Master and to be nice.

 

Jisung grimaced. That was another way out of here. But he couldn’t even imagine in what situation it would bring him. Jisung was willing to break before giving in to this monster. It was all his fault. The Vampire had killed his chief, he tortured him and who knows what he would do next? Those people never had enough. He wanted revenge. What if Mr. Park still wasn’t satisfied? What if he would reach out to their tribe? What if he finds Chan in the woods or Felix? What if…what if the Vampire had already killed his entire tribe? His father? For a reason Jisung knew is father had done something to the Vampire. Mr. Park was way too happy to find out that Jisung was his son.

 

Jisung had to get back. He had to warn them, to help them prepare for what was about to come. He wanted to save them. The wolf tried to wind his hands out of the chains, ignoring the pain he felt in his wrists that were sore from all his useless attempts to free himself. He sniffed in pain but tried nevertheless. He had to get out. Jisung turned around, pulled at the chains, and tried to pull them out of the wall. He had to warn his tribe. Pushing his still hurting foot against the wall, he tried to put more strength into his attempt. Jisung had to do something, anything.

 

It was useless. With every day more in this place, Jisung was losing more of his energy. He couldn’t fight anymore but he knew he had to. He had to get out, he had to warn them, to save them. Unintentional pictures of the head of Bang crossed his mind again, slowly fading and turning into the heads of his friends, the head of his father. He heard those ugly laughing voices again and his head starts to ring.

 

His heart was beating strongly against his chest, that it began hurting soon. But Jisung couldn’t stop. Desperate he began to dig his ice-cold fingers in the place where the chains came out of the wall, not realizing how fast and unsteady his breath became. It became hard to breathe for him, but he pushed himself further, he needed to do something. He felt the blood on his fingers, but he couldn’t stop. Tears were running down his cheeks. It felt so unreal. All of this was so unreal to him, almost like he would watch himself in a movie doing stupid stuff, which he knew wouldn’t work but tried no matter what.

 

Suddenly he cried out loud. Cowering on the floor and letting his feelings take over. He’d fought against them, tried to push his fear aside, but for what? It was useless, Jisung was useless. He couldn’t do anything to protect the people he loved, he wasn’t even able to protect himself. All Jisung wanted was to get out of here, he wanted to see the light again, to feel the warmth of the sun, and to hear the wind running through the leaves. He wanted to smell freshly cut fields and to hear the river while he was laying in his bed. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t strong enough. Jisung was weak. That’s what he had to admit to himself.

 

The door opened and Jisung could only imagine how he must have looked like, totally collapsed on the floor. Shivering heavily, he tried to keep at least a little bit of honor and sat up. Not straight, but at least as much as his aching body and mind would let him. He heard Hyunjins footsteps getting closer. He was faster than on his other visits and Jisung bet he sat a few seconds longer next to him than he would normally before he stood up and went back again, taking his scent with him. It was the only thing that was still appealing to Jisung and made him calm down for a second.

 

“Jisungie. Not feeling well?” The cold voice of the Vampire rang in his ears and made Jisung wince. He couldn’t talk, it was like he didn’t know-how. “Hm. I see. Still not wanting to accept your new role?” Jisung felt his body tremble again. “I see.” Mr. Park sounded unsatisfied. “Hyunjin, you’ve forgotten something.”

 

“Master, I think-“

 

“Hyunjin!”

 

Jisung heard Hyunjin come back. When he felt a grip around his arm, he backed off to the wall behind him. “Jisung, give me your arm.”, Hyunjin said coldly. The wolf laughed shortly but it came out more like a deep sob. Right. It was this Hyunjin, not the nice one, he began to like days ago.

 

The blonde took his arm and pulled his sleeve up, to run a new needle in his arm. Jisung wanted to fight against it, but he had no strength left anymore. “Why?”, he whispered into his own darkness, broken. Jisung hadn’t expected Hyunjin to answer, but it still hurt to be greeted with silence again. Hyunjin went back.

 

The door was about to went shut again. This was it? He would be left alone again in this cold room and with his terrifying thoughts?

 

“Okay…”, he whispered, his voice shaking. The door didn’t fell shut. Of course not, Mr. Park had good ears, Jisung knew.

 

“You want to say something, Jisungie?” He sounded amused. Normally his tone would have made Jisung fume, but it didn’t. Not anymore.

 

“I agree.”

 

“You agree to what, Jisungie?”

 

The wolf took a deep shakily breath. “To your conditions. I agree to your conditions.”

 

“Which are?”

 

Jisung bit down on his lip. It hurt him to commit but not as much as he would have thought. He wished it was different, but it simply didn’t bother him anymore. “I obey. I will do, whatever you want me to.”

 

Long footsteps came up to him. Mr. Park was kneeling in front of him. “Not as much of a fighter that I thought you are, Jisungie. I can’t complain though.” When Jisung felt his cold Hands under his chin, he almost turned his head away. But the urge to do so wasn’t as prominent as before. It still bothered him but there wasn’t any reason to fight this man anymore.

 

“Let’s see if you meant what you said…” Jisung felt warm air against his skin and then he felt wet lips pressed against his. The wolf blinked, feeling his heart beating against his rips in panic. All he could hope for was that this uncomfortableness would soon be gone. He didn’t kiss the man back though, too busy to fight his bad feelings. It felt like an eternity until their lips parted.

 

“You’re not fighting anymore. Good Jisungie, I am proud of you. Although we have to work on your own commitment to your words.” Mr. Park stood up and went back to the door. Jisung felt pure panic rising again. “I-I just told you I obey. Why are you going to leave me behind?”, he rattled off.

 

“Cute. Isn’t he?”, Mr. Park smiled. “The first step in understanding his new life and already so clingy. Hyunjin.”

 

The blonde came to Jisung again and nestled at his chains. Soon after he heard a click and they were falling off his wrists. “Stand up.”, Hyunjin commanded and Jisung tried, his mind still not realizing what was happening. The wolf tried to stand on his wonky limbs but days in fear without enough food and enough water didn’t give the brown-haired enough strength to keep his weight up. Before Jisung collapsed at the ground again, his body was held by strong arms. “Careful.” Jisung could almost hear the caring sound in Hyunjins voice before he was picked up by him bridal style.

 

“Bring him to my private rooms.”, Mr. Park commanded.

 

“He’s almost passed out, he should rest and find some strength.”, Hyunjin mumbled.

 

“It’s exactly the state I want him to be in. Stop talking back to me, Hyunjin.”

 

“Y-Yes. I am sorry.”

 

Jisung heard Mr. Park going into a different direction, leaving him alone with Hyunjin. Resting against the man’s body, pure exhaustion was hitting the smaller and he felt his eyes falling shut, while his body stopped shivering so much. Although Hyunjin's body always had been on the colder side, he felt warmth embrace right now. Jisung felt almost protected.

 

Hyunjin wasn’t the man Jisung had hoped he was. Jisung couldn’t even think of the taller as a friend, but Jisung found himself feeling safe around him again. Maybe he was too desperate to find at least something or someone who could give him the feeling to be home and cared for.

 

He heard a door open and when Hyunjin went in with him, he was hit with warm air. Jisung heard the crackling of a fire somewhere in the room that made the air so unbelievable comfortable and warm. When his body touched a soft mattress, he sighed in relief. He hadn’t had the feeling of something soft for such a long time. But when he realized that Hyunjin was about to separate from him, he ducked his fingers in his shirt, holding Hyunjin near. “Don’t.”, he whispered. “Please don’t go. Please don’t leave me.” Jisung didn’t want the only comforting person in this nightmare to let him alone again.

 

Hyunjin sighed. “You gave Mr. Park your word, you already forgot?”, he asked, not caring, but almost angry.

 

“I…I just couldn’t stay there any longer. I-I.” Was it wrong? Should he have stayed down there? What difference would it have made?

 

“You had an anxiety attack. It kicked you out of your mind…”, Hyunjin sighed. “Now you have to live with the consequences.”

 

“Consequences?” Jisung feared to ask, but he did it anyway.

 

“Do you think I brought you here to rest? Mr. Park soon will come to you and get what he couldn’t get from you when you had arrived here.” Hyunjins cold hands took Jisungs, loosening his grip on his shirt. “You will be able to rest after that, I think. Unless he has other plans. But now you have to do what he says. Never forget that, hear me?”

 

“Hyunjin, I’m…I’m scared…”, Jisung whispered. He felt Hyunjins hand his cheek softly. “I know…”, he whispered. “I wished you would have fought for just a few more days…just a few…” He bent forward and kissed Jisungs forehead before he stood up.

 

“What? What do you mean?”

 

“You don’t have to know. Mr. Park will be here soon…”

 

The door went shut and Jisung was left alone.