“No! You can’t do this to your own son, Dongwook!” Taeyang heard his mother pleading with his father. Fading in and out of darkness, a memory of Taeyang’s father approached him with murderous intent. Taeyang felt so small and realized that he was a child again. The reality was odd, but he didn’t question it too much as he wanted to retreat from the danger before him as soon as possible.

Pointing a sharp claw at his son, Taeyang’s father proclaimed, “I will not allow a weakling like you to take the throne. The humans are monsters that will overthrow the kingdom if you rule. You already made friends with one. How foolish you are.” With tears in his eyes, the young Taeyang yelled back spitefully, “You turned Inseong into one of us! All you want is to drink every human’s blood until they’re extinct. You’re the monster!”

Dongwook’s nostrils flared in fury as he struck out at his son. Taeyang raised his arms to block in front of his face when his mother deftly shoved him aside. “Taeyang, run!” she ordered. On instinct, Taeyang tumbled to the ground and rolled into a balanced position. Meanwhile, his mother was busy executing multiple attacks directed at his father.

Through all of the present chaos, Taeyang still noticed that there was a bystander out of the corner of his vision. He was alerted to look in their direction when he heard the person gasp in shock. Without thinking, he ran to help as the human had just fallen from a ledge on the mountain they were on. He fearlessly dove off the cliff just in time to catch a small girl.

With the young girl in his arms, Taeyang ran a distance away into the forest to get them both away from danger. He found a tree which was large enough for them to hide behind. Noticing that the girl still appeared to be unconscious, he sat her down against a tree for support to check if she had been injured.

Curtaining her bangs to the side, he instantly smelled blood and examined her scalp to find a small cut which had been inflicted from hitting her head on a rock while falling. Cradling her head in his hands, he carefully kissed the wound, and it began to heal. Satisfied with his work, Taeyang smiled softly and patted the girl on the head.

Without warning, a high-pitched shriek sounded from the clearing where Taeyang's parents had been battling. Golden, flaming lights erupted into the sky and cascaded slowly down as they faded. Taeyang knew what this meant- a vampire had died by the hand of another vampire. As far as he knew, a vampire’s claws were the only things which could end their lives when piercing the heart. He hung his head in dismay.

“Oh! My baby!” Taeyang turned to see a young woman approaching them. With tears in her eyes, she ran to her daughter and held her in a loving embrace when she had reached her. “What happened?” she asked Taeyang. “She slipped from the cliff, but I was able to get to her in time,” he explained. Lost for words, the only thing the mother could say was a heartfelt, “Thank you, you sweet child. You were my daughter’s guardian angel today.” Taeyang felt slightly embarrassed at the woman’s words but managed a smile before leaving the two alone.

Without being able to feel anything, Taeyang fell to his knees at the sight he found in the clearing. His parents were a lifeless and messy scene to behold. Apparently, they had both destroyed each other. While holding her hand, Taeyang cried silently by his mother’s corpse. As a child vampire, he had not acquired any powers yet which left him with no means of defending himself or really being able to protect anyone. If he had only been stronger, he could have stopped this tragedy from happening.

The last thing he saw in his memory was a teenage Zuho standing by his side and attempting to console him.

Taeyang remembered that day too well even when he tried to forget. He couldn’t escape the dreams.

The dreams reminded him that both of his parents were now lying in coffins because of him.

Opening his eyes to a moonlit room, Taeyang discovered that he had fallen asleep on the sofa in the library. He had been doing some night reading on a book of roses which was probably what had set off the dream.

A knock at the sturdy wooden door alerted him to the presence of Inseong who walked in shortly after. Taeyang looked at him questioningly which prompted him to speak. “I talked to Jaeyoon about coming here tonight, but he said that he’ll be here early in the morning,” Inseong stated. “Why?” Taeyang wondered aloud. Inseong shuffled in his place, “Um… Well, he said that he needed to put his plants to bed. He tucks them in with some fresh soil and a drink of water every night.” Taeyang quirked an eyebrow at the nonsense he was hearing but soon remembered that this was Jaeyoon they were talking about. Jaeyoon loved his plants dearly and treated them as his children.

“Very well,” he responded dejectedly. It didn’t really matter if Jaeyoon was there that night because the whole purpose of him visiting was to teach the criminal how to take care of plants. Said criminal was asleep now and wouldn’t be awake until tomorrow anyway. However, Taeyang liked the extra company from time to time as it could become boring in the castle.

With a sigh, Taeyang went back to reading his book in the calming darkness of the night as the moon had now been covered by stray clouds.

**.**.**.**.**

So, there was a little backstory. I was going to make the chapter longer, but I think the length works for this one. Hope you are enjoying it so far!