“Before we tell you everything we know, I…” Jungeun sighed, and turned to Heejin. “I want to apologize to you. It was me who captured you yesterday.”

Heejin’s eyes widened, and Hyunjin balled her fists. “Why?”

“As soon as we got to the hideout the night we brought you, I went to report the situation to Jinyoung. He found you suspicious, so he told me he would put a tracker on you so I could follow and investigate you. I heard what you were talking about that night, that you were up to something, so I followed Heejin when she left, and found out she was a slayer.”

“How did you know?” Heejin asked.

“We know that place belongs to the Silver Blades.”

“The what?” Hyunjin frowned.

Heejin was frozen in place, and Jinsol only listened attentively.

“How do you… know our name?” Heejin asked, barely moving.

“We know a lot about you slayers.”

Heejin let her back hit the couch, her eyes fixed on Jungeun.

“As I was saying, I reported back that you were a slayer, and Jinyoung told me to get you the next day and bring you to our hideout. So, I’m sorry. But please understand that even if we hate that, we can’t exactly say no.”

“Why would you apologize to a slayer?” Jinsol asked, catching everyone’s attention. “Don’t you hate her because she’s one?”

“I know they hunt us vampires, but we’re in no place to judge anyone when we did what we did.” Jungeun dropped her head, and Jiwoo nodded, agreeing with her. “After we went through what we did and witnessed the things happening over there, we can’t exactly say the slayers are completely in the wrong for fearing vampires.”

“Turning people into vampires,” Hyunjin said. “Why were you doing that?”

Jungeun and Jiwoo shared a look. “I've been with Jinyoung and the Blood Alliance for a long time,” Jiwoo said.

"Blood Alliance? Is that their name?" Hyunjin asked.

“Yes. At the beginning, they were my salvation. I had no idea what had happened to me, and when I found people like me, that didn’t treat me like a crazy person, I felt like there was hope. They offered me shelter and blood, without a thing in return. That was, until the slayers appeared." Jiwoo sighed. “They started slaying vampires everywhere, many from the Blood Alliance. We started seeing friends die, day after day, and that was when a new leader came forth, and he wanted us to fight back, to fight for survival. At the beginning, it made sense why and what we fought for. But, when that new leader came up with this plan of his... It all changed.”

“What plan?” Hyunjin asked, afraid of whatever she was going to say next.

“Recruit an army of well-trained vampires and fight back. Attack the slayers and get revenge."

Hyunjin glanced at Heejin. She kept her head down, fists balled on her lap.

“I was brought there because of this,” Jungeun said. “The way they do things is easy. They send a vampire to turn a person, then another vampire will be there when that person awakes, ready to tell them it’s okay, and to guide them through everything. They bring the new vampire to the Blood Alliance, show them around, offer them blood and shelter if necessary, and when time passes, they start training that vampire. And even if they try to refuse, they will manipulate them, telling them that it’s the least they can do when they had been offered shelter, blood, and guidance. But if you still refuse, they have their twisted ways of keeping you there. I won’t go into detail, but you can probably paint the picture in your head. Point is, whoever enters the Blood Alliance, can’t get out.”

“And you were about to turn someone the other night,” Jinsol said.

Jungeun nodded, eyes down on her lap.

“Jungeun, Yeojin, everyone else they have turned…” Hyunjin said, her voice low, gritted between her clenched jaw. “So many lives they have ruined.”

“Do you understand now why we hate it?” Jungeun asked, her voice quivering. “Jiwoo was the one taking me. We bonded, and as the years went by, I started taking these jobs of… turning people. We always wanted to run away. But there was no way. We couldn’t simply stop showing up.”

“What now, then? Didn’t you just run away?” Jinsol asked.

“Yes, we did, but this was different. We had the perfect opportunity with the fight happening. They may think we died in the fight, and with everything going on, it’s much less likely they saw us run away. It was our best and only shot.” Jiwoo shrugged.

“I do hope they don't give a damn about us and don't go ask others if they felt us leave."

“What is everything going on?” Jinsol asked.

“Right, we didn’t get to that part.” Hyunjin rubbed her temples. “Yesterday, when I got to the hideout, Jinyoung locked me with Heejin. I couldn’t even fight back. He was too strong, like no other vampire I ever fought. He said he wanted me to prove the slayers right.”

Jinsol frowned. “What does that mean?”

Hyunjin avoided everyone’s eyes. “I didn’t feed before going yesterday.”

Jinsol gasped. “Did you enter blood lust?!”

“She didn’t,” Heejin blurted.

Hyunjin shot her head up, meeting her eyes, and the memories from earlier showed up in her mind. How Heejin helped her keeping her conscience, even though she was probably terrified.

Jinsol sighed, a hand to her chest. “Of course she didn’t.”

“Because of you,” Hyunjin said, her gaze still locked with Heejin’s. There was silence, as if they were waiting for her to continue. “If it wasn’t for you, I…”

“You wouldn’t-”

“I don’t know, Jinsol! I had never gotten to that point. I was angry, and you know how much it only worsens the hunger. If it wasn’t for Heejin, I don’t know what might have happened. I guess I really can’t control it, after all.”

Silence followed once again, until Jungeun cleared . “T-The fight. So, that happened, and all of a sudden, slayers were there.”

“The slayers?” Jinsol gasped. “How did they know?”

“They must have tracked me through my chip,” Heejin said.

“Chip? You have a chip?!”

“I know, right...” Hyunjin sighed.

Heejin’s face gained another shade of pink. “I’m sorry, I should have mentioned it before. All slayers do, in case we go on mission and we don’t return. That way, they can know where we are so they can help us.”

“Okay, that does make sense,” Jinsol said, and Hyunjin frowned at her. “I mean, if it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t be here now. What are you going to do now, Heejin? Are you gonna go back to the organization tonight?”

Heejin dropped her head. “I can’t.”

“What? Why?”

“I broke their most important rule.”

“By protecting a vampire,” Hyunjin mumbled, staring yet again at her. At how weak she nodded.

Jinsol’s eyes averted from Hyunjin to Heejin, waiting for them to explain.

“Slayers and vampires were fighting, killing each other everywhere. All we wanted was to escape, to run from there,” Heejin said. “But when we were running... she attacked Hyunjin.”

“Who’s she?” Jinsol asked, voice rushed and high pitched.

“Yves,” Hyunjin said.

Jinsol’s head turned so fast to Hyunjin, a crack echoed in the room. “I-I beg your pardon?”

“You heard it well.”

“Do you know her?” Heejin asked.

“N-No, it’s just an unusual name." Jinsol cleared . "So, she attacked Hyunjin, and you... protected her?”

“Yes. The number one rule of the Silver Blades is never show mercy to a vampire. Meaning, no protecting, no letting them live. I’m probably banished from the organization at this point." Heejin chuckled, shaking her head.

“And after that, you finally left,” Jinsol concluded.

“When the slayers attacked the hideout, I helped them escape," Jungeun said. “And you were right, Hyunjin. I don’t want to be like them. I don’t want to be a murderer, a vampire who does nothing else but turn innocent people and bring them there, taking away their lives. And you were also right when you said I was scared. So...” Jungeun got on her feet and bowed, a perfect ninety-degree bow, making Heejin, Jinsol, and Hyunjin widen her eyes. “Thank you for opening my eyes and helping us.”

Jiwoo stood up and bowed as well. “Thank you.”

“H-Hey, sit down, you two. You don’t need to be so formal. Thank you as well, for helping us escape.”

They did as told, and returned to their seats. Jinsol sighed heavily, leaning back against the couch. “What now?”

There was so much in Hyunjin’s mind, she didn’t know what to worry about first. But then she remembered something she still wanted to ask. “You mentioned a new leader showed up and everything changed when he came up with all that plan. Who’s he?”

“Jinyoung founded the Blood Alliance, but Im Jaebum is the new leader who joined and came up with the sick plan,” Jiwoo said.

Hyunjin’s surroundings spun around her. Her stomach twisted, and she actually had to hold back a gag. She blinked, forcing her vision to stay focused, and got on her feet, darting to the door.

“Hyunjin,” Jinsol called.

“I need a second.”

She dashed out of the door, towards her training grounds, far deep into the trees surrounding her house. She took deep breaths, fighting her hardest to keep it under control, but the anger, the rage bubbling, burning her insides was too strong. Her eyes shifted and her fangs grew, as she launched at the nearest punching bag, and she punched it so hard, it swung and hit the ground on the other side.

If seeing him, in flesh, right before her eyes wasn’t enough, she just learned her lifetime mission, the one that took everything away from her, was the leader of that vampire organization.

Her objective, her goal, was never so close. Was never so clear.

To take the Blood Alliance down, and finally get the revenge she had always wanted.

To kill Jaebum.

---

A/N: Now we have NAMES

Prepare for the next chapter, it's BIG, both in word count and lots of info and......... someone else is showing up :)))