"Eomma," Minju struggled to say, balancing her phone in between her ear and her shoulder as she shuffled to hold her shopping bags in a comfortable position. "Yeah, I'm coming home right now."

Minju shut her phone off and tucked it away in her pocket as she walked through the dark parking lot. The place was illuminated by small, yellow lamps hanging at regular intervals on the walls. The evening breeze sent a chill down Minju's spine and she shivered gently as she looked at herself in the reflection of her car trunk.

Tonight was cold, colder than usual. The parking lot was all too quiet that it felt suspicious, and the brunette would glance around rapidly if she heard even the slightest shift. She felt vulnerable standing in the middle of the parking lot alone, surrounded by a few cars here and there but still utterly alone. Even bending down to pick up her bags from the ground to load them into the car trunk seemed like a task that would eventually lead to her imminent death.

Minju got the strange feeling that she wasn't alone, despite their being literally nobody around her. But she still couldn't help but feel as if there was somebody watching her- that that person was really good at hiding, at being silent.

A wave of fear suddenly engulfed her and she panicked, rushing to load her bags. If there was someone watching her then she would just escape the situation quickly, no questions asked.

She was loading the last bag into the car trunk when she felt a gust of wind blow past her, as well as that whooshing noise you hear when something is fast enough to create air resistance. Minju whipped her head around with widened eyes and her breathing became quicker. Her eyes flitted around the room in hesitation and nervousness.

Just then, she felt another rush of wind. Only this time, she watched it happen. Someone so fast, so unnaturally- no, supernaturally fast, that she couldn't even see exactly what it was that just zoomed past her.

She made steps backwards in her frozen state, still watching the walls of the room intently, reaching for her car door, when something suddenly appeared in front of her, causing Minju to fall back against her car.

Minju blindly hissed at the unknown entity as she fell, revealing her long, blunt (but slightly sharp) canines.

Opening one eye while slowly gathering her senses, Minju began to laugh when the unknown in front of her hissed back, with even sharper teeth and noticeably abnormal looking orange-amber eyes.

"Ya Jang Wonyoung!" Minju said in hysterical laughter, standing back up.

Minju encircled the taller girl's neck as she reciprocated the hug.

"Wa unnie," the raven-haired girl laughed. "You have the worst defence mechanism I've ever seen."

"Well I obviously stand no chance against you do I..." Minju whined.

Minju watched as the younger girl's eyes shone in the light, exhibiting a spectrum of colours from bright orange to a slightly dull amber. The girl's smile revealed canines which were noticeably sharper than hers. Wonyoung is an Eligiato.

"Did you get your acceptance letter?" Wonyoung asked.

"To Blanditia Fanum?" Minju confirmed.

Blanditia Fanum. Latin for 'Fang of Blood.'

Wonyoung simply nodded in response.

"My mom said that she was waiting for me to get home before she opened it."

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Wonyoung said excitedly.

Minju shrugged and opened her car door to usher Wonyoung inside.

"I can't believe you still drive, unnie," she muttered as she adjusted herself in the seat. "You're a vampire with enhanced speed and you still waste your time driving around."

Minju sighed, "I'm hardly a vampire Wonyoung-ah. I don't even deserve to be called that." She kept her eyes ahead as she turned the wheel.

"What, just because you're a bloodbound?" Wonyoung turned to her.

Minju laughed as she mocked herself, a hint of bitterness in her tone, "how can I be a vampire with no vampiral instincts and absolutely no drive to drink human blood. I don't even get special coloured eyes."

Wonyoung stayed silent, feeling awkward.

"The only reason why I'm even being accepted into Blanditia Fanum is because I still have human blood inside me which can feed the Talgory daughters."

Bloodbound vampires. A rare type of vampire of which their transition phase from a human to a vampire wasn't complete. While attaining some supernatural characteristics such as enhanced speed, hearing and vision, Bloodbound vampires retain many of their human traits as well. Minju always envied the snow white skin of Wonyoung and other Eligiatos of that kind, as well as the Talgory daughters as well. She was always bitter about the fact that she never looked like a true vampire, and even the liquid running through her veins was that of a human's biology, not a vampire's.

Wonyoung sighed as they drove back to Minju's house in silence. Wonyoung couldn't really understand the older girl's position, as she herself had always been easily accepted into the vampire community. She did pity Minju, though- she can't imagine what it must be like to have to attend a school for the sole purpose of acting as a blood bank to the descendents of Dracula.

-

The study room of Oblivion Mansion was surprisingly warm tonight (though dark), the candles in the room seemed to heat up the usually cold grounds. There were only two desks in the classroom, placed directly in front of a long desk at the front for the private tutor. The atmosphere was cozy yet dark, and the yellow candles illuminated the grey walls to look a tad bit more welcoming.

Chaewon sat up in her wooden chair with that straight face she always sports. A face so intimidating that nobody would dare question her. She looked so sure of herself, with those crossed arms of hers and those piercing crimson eyes. The kind of person who looked like they could all the light from the world with one glare at someone.

That daunting expression dissipated, however, when she allowed a smile to break onto her face. She glanced to her left, where she could see her friend, a bob-haired brunette with the same pale skin and crimson eyes as hers, doodling on her page with her tongue sticking out of the corner of .

"Ahn Yujin!" The tutor called out from the front.

The said girl bolted upright, dropping her pencil on the wooden table.

Chaewon pressed her lips into a line as she tried to suppress a chuckle from escaping her lips.

When the tutor turned around to produce a screeching noise on the chalkboard, Yujin turned to Chaewon and flashed her a joking angry face. The brunette stared at Chaewon as she brought her hand up and started to make a stiff movement with her fingers. After a few seconds, a small flicker of light was seen from the tips of her fingers, followed by the creation of a flame in her palm.

Yujin's gift was pyrokinesis. The manipulation and creation of fire. Yujin was a freshman this year, a new student to Blanditia Fanum. Of course, the young girl hadn't yet learned to control her gift, but she still boasted about her power at every given opportunity.

Vampires of the Talgory bloodline were notorious for their individual gifts, alien to any other type of vampire.

She was no match for Chaewon, though. Her power was weak compared to that of a Vampire who had been in training for over hundreds of years now. Chaewon simply shrugged when Yujin sent the flight of fire over in her direction, simply focusing her mind on the ball of fire headed towards her, and transferring energy to change the direction of it. Yujin pouted when her creation was burned out against the grey wall miles away from where Chaewon was.

"Nice try," Chaewon sported a flashing smile.

Yujin grunted just as the final bits of sand from the timeglass at the front of the room fell through. The tutor called out that the session had finished, and the two speedily packed their things away and headed out into the hallway.

"It's six pm," Chaewon commented, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Class starts in an hour."

"Cool. Let's go back to the dorm and get changed into our uniforms."

-

Their dorm room was a similar ambience to that of the rest of the castle; the walls were grey brick, with red velvet curtains hanging from the windows- red of course, being the signature colour of the Talgory and their pure bloodline. The dorm was covered in red; from the curtains, to the bed sheets, the carpet and even the chandelier glistened a shade of red.

For a room that had the most undesirable features on paper, one couldn't deny that it was rather cozy, especially with a large fireplace planted in the front wall. It was extremely spacious as well, as it housed four king sized poster beds placed against each wall.

A growing nervousness slowly crept up inside of Chaewon's body as she retrieved her uniform from her closet, holding the hanger against her body as she stared at herself in the mirror.

A rather tight red blazer which cinched at the waist, underneath it a white button up shirt topped off with a black cross ribbon by the collar. The skirt as well as the shoes were black. She glanced at the embroidered logo on the of the shirt, and it read a simple 'T,' written in bold red, with a black outline. The uniform beautifully complimented Chaewon's bright red eyes and her orange hair.

The more she stared at herself in the mirror, the more uncomfortable she became. These features are not one of a true being, she often thought to herself. Memories from the past resurfaced and anxiety grew inside of her.

"Unnie," a voice appeared from behind her.

Chaewon quickly shook away her thoughts and turned around to search for the owner of the voice. Yujin walked up beside her and they gazed into the mirror together.

"You look nervous," the taller girl commented, her red eyes glistening in the reflection.

"It's been a while, Yujin-ah."

"You'll be fine," she responded, patting Chaewon on the back. "Just imagine it as if you took a trip for a really long time, and you just got back."

"I don't know if I'm ready for this... What if I end up hurting-"

"You got this unnie. You've changed." Yujin grabbed Chaewon's shoulders and turned her to face her. "Fighting," she said, raising her fist in the air.

Chaewon took a deep breath and looked at her reflection once more but with a glint of determination.

I got this.

-

Minju already felt the stares on her as she and Wonyoung walked along the bridge leading up to the castle. All of the pale people with gleaming orange eyes was definitely a sight that would encourage nightmares. Minju just proceeded to look down at the ground as she followed closely behind Wonyoung, hoping to go unnoticed (and failing miserably). She supposes that the strong herbs her mother rubbed on her this morning were ineffective (her mother told her that the smell was supposed to cover up the scent of her human blood).

Upon entering the castle, both of the girls marveled at the grand interior of the place. Minju couldn't believe that she was actually here- that she had actually left her old life behind in order to pursue a world much different. The school foyer was just the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen, the ceiling so high that she could barely see where it began. There were two staircases which began at both sides of the room, and they connected to create a balcony on the first floor. Minju glanced up at the balcony and saw the portraits of the school's founder: Dracula. And following him, were more portraits of the rest of the Talgory bloodline.

Minju gulped. The room was so crowded right now, and she still didn't know where she stood with absolutely anyone. She felt as if it was a hazard to simply have a lonely Bloodbound just hovering amidst a crowd of young vampires like this, but it didn't seem as if there was any escape. Everyone was so tightly packed together that she felt like a sardine that had been squished inside of a can.

The chattering in the foyer grew even louder when a group of people walked out onto the balcony of the first floor, overlooking everyone. It was a middle aged man, followed by four other girls who seemed to look close to Minju's age. Minju noted that there was a common feature among the people who had just walked up there; they all had gleaming crimson eyes, the brightest eyes Minju had ever seen and was only seeing for the first time in her life, along with skin as white as snow, absolutely no trace of blood detectable inside them. They weren't just any vampire- they are Talgory Vampires. They are royalty.

Minju scanned the lot of them, observing from left to right, a girl with long brown hair topped with a red headband, a girl with long blonde hair, a girl with a brown bob, and finally-

Minju didn't expect to lock eyes with the last girl who had a short, orange bob cut. She was only going down the line, analysing each of them when she suddenly connected gazes with the girl at the end. Minju's breath hitched in . The girl was staring at her so intently, scarily so, which made Minju quiver slightly.

From the balcony, Chaewon looked over the sea of people beneath her. Until suddenly, she caught eyes with a long-haired brunette. The harder she focused on the girl, the more delirious she felt by the second. She could smell her blood from a mile away. A lump formed in Chaewon's throat and it took everything inside of her to draw her eyes away.

"Yujin-ah," Chaewon managed to mutter as she shut her eyes with her back turned to the crowd.

"Wae?" Yujin whispered as she looked at her sister worriedly.

"There's a-" Chaewon's voice went small. "There's a Bloodbound in here."

Yujin's eyes widened as she shot back to face the crowd and searched the room intently. She closed her eyes and fixated her senses to her smell. And in no time, Yujin was able to trace where the said Bloodbound was.

"," Yujin muttered.

After a few seconds of watching Chaewon clench her jaw in obvious struggle, Yujin took matters into her own hands. She zoomed down the stairs like lightning, taking everyone by surprise. She dashed over to the brunette girl who reeked of human blood.

Rather than addressing her directly, she spoke to the girl's friend who was a lot easier to focus on.

"Your friend-" Yujin began, struggling to concentrate due to the delicious smell directly beside her.

"Y-you need to get her out of here," Yujin only managed to mumble, her irises growing even darker and larger by the second.

"What, why?" Wonyoung said, clearly annoyed at the girl's attempt to shoo her away.

"It's too dangerous for Bloodbounds to be here," Yujin said, breathless. "She's supposed to register in a different part of the castle."

"Oh ," Wonyoung suddenly realised. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot."

And with that, Yujin rapidly rushed up the stairs away from them, in order to save herself.

Rushing Minju out of the foyer and into a completely different hallway of the castle, Wonyoung stopped momentarily to regain her breath.

"," she grumbled, leaning against the wall.

"What happened?" Minju asked.

"I forgot that Talgory vampires and Bloodbounds aren't supposed to mix with each other," Wonyoung panted.

"No wonder that one girl was staring at me like I was a whole meal," Minju laughed to herself.

"Wait what?" Wonyoung said, standing up straight after hearing what Minju had said.

"That girl was staring at me-"

"Which girl?" Wonyoung said frantically.

"Wonyoung-ah... You're scaring me."

"Which girl, unnie!" Wonyoung demanded.

"T-the girl with short orange hair," Minju said.

"," Wonyoung groaned, throwing her head back against the wall.

"Unnie, you need to stay away from her. That's Kim Chaewon- she has the worst history out of all of them, she's by far the deadliest out of all the Talgory daughters."

Minju wanted to know why she was thought to be the most dangerous but she didn't want to push for answers, having only been at the school for less than five minutes. But strangely enough, it didn't look as if Chaewon had actually wanted to kill her, per se, the girl just looked a tad uncomfortable with Minju's presence.

"Good job I got out of there quickly then," Minju added.

"This isn't a joke, unnie. It's so important that you stay away from the Talgorys for your own safety. The only time you should be in contact with them is at a blood bank," Wonyoung said in a protective tone.

She held her hand out for Minju to take, "Let's go find the other Bloodbounds so that you can settle in with them. I heard there's only four of you this year."

-

A few days later, Minju was now sitting in a large hall with three other girls, whom she had grown closer to since meeting them. Their names were Eunbi, Yuri and Nako. They were currently sitting in a row in the middle of this large, gloomy looking hall, listening to their supervisor drone on about health and safety measures during the blood bank. There was a sizable distance between each station and Minju was situated in the far right station.

"Each of you will be assigned to one of the four Talgory daughters," the man began. "Now I must warn you, the sting of a Talgory's bite is not to be taken lightly. We all know that vampires of the Talgory bloodline have the highest drive for human blood known to the supernatural world, so don't be surprised if you feel a little light headed for a few hours afterwards."

The four girls glanced at each other from their respective stations and Minju pressed her lips into a thin line.

"I will first inform you that most of the Talgory daughters actually have rather adequate control over their thirst... All except one." He explained.

Minju gulped.

"Kim Chaewon will most certainly be the hardest one to deal with. Who's up for the challenge," he said in an ironically enthusiastic tone, clapping his hands together.

Minju was so dazed by what he had said before that she didn't notice when the other girls all shook their heads apart from her.

"Minju!" He exclaimed, taking her by surprise. "Good for you!"

. There's no getting out of this now.

"Eunbi, you will be assigned to Hyewon, Yuri to Yena, Nako to Yujin and finally, Minju to Chaewon."

The supervisor approached Minju and whispered to her, "whatever you do, don't be scared. It is said that nothing smells more delicious to a Talgory vampire than when their prey is frightened," he started. "Something about the blood tasting better or whatever."

Minju forced a smile onto her face out of respect but as he walked away, she snapped her head towards Nako and mouthed 'save me' through the glass, only to earn a pitiful fist pump in return.

Seconds turned into minutes and before Minju could even stop swinging her legs beneath her chair in nervousness, the grand door to the hall opened.

In walked the four great daughters of the Talgory bloodline, one after the other. They took their seats in their assigned stations while Chaewon hesitantly approached the station where Minju was seated.

Minju's heart was beating inevitably faster in her chest, so hard that she could literally hear the echoes of her heart beat in her ear drums. She swallowed hard as she looked at the girl who had just sat in front of her.

Minju awkwardly adjusted her placement on the seat, not knowing how to even start the process. She watched awkwardly as Chaewon stared at her with an expression that Minju didn't quite know how to react to nor read. The orange haired girl looked so obviously uncomfortable, like the look of a child when they're trying to stop themselves from throwing up. Minju observed how the irises of Chaewon's eyes grew bigger and darker, making Minju feel like prey.

Minju lowered her eyes momentarily, her reflex for awkward situations.

Why oh why do I have to be a bloodbound, she thought. She could have turned out to be an Eligiato but no- the devil wanted to curse her by making her the frightened little prey of her royal superior.

She slowly glanced back up when she noticed Chaewon's feet shuffling on the ground. There was a look of uncertainty on her face, she had her head slightly tilted and her eyebrows furrowed as if she was trying to figure Minju out.

The tension between them was suddenly dispersed by the sound of a loud bang on a table, and Minju shot her eyes in the direction of Nako, who had her face scrunched up and her free hand repeatedly hitting the table beside her. Minju caught sight of Yujin who was tightly gripping her other hand and the blood from the smaller girl's wrist. Her eyes widened in utter shock as she saw the look on Yujin's face as she retracted from Nako's wrist- the girl's fangs were dripping in blood and her irises reduced back to normal size after a few seconds.

She dragged her gaze back to Chaewon who was looking at her with more fervour now.

"It doesn't help that I can hear your heart beating out of your chest," Chaewon said in a low voice.

Minju moved back slightly. She felt uncomfortable when she felt Chaewon's eyes scanning her face. Her entire face. The way she stared (which Minju thought was a glare at first, but now she looks rather contemplative) into her eyes, and every single feature on her face. Minju could visibly see Chaewon's chest rising like she was trying to steady herself. Chaewon tightly closed her eyes and took one last breath. And when she opened her eyes again... It was as if she'd come back a completely new person. The hunger in her eyes seemed to disappear and her irises had reduced to its original size. She now sported a soft gaze.

What the just happened...

Silence washed over the entire hall and all eyes turned to Chaewon when she suddenly stood up from her seat, and nonchalantly walked out of the room.

-

"Ya Kim Chaewon," Hyewon said as the three of them walked into the dorm room to find a lonely Chaewon sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

Hyewon chucked her stuff on her bed and the sisters proceeded to gather around the couch.

"What the was that about?" Hyewon teased, pushing her sister's shoulder so that she fell back into the cushion."

Yena laughed along, poking Chaewon's shoulder so that the girl continuously bobbed around. "Ya look at this, she's so weak."

Yena raised her hand to the chandelier and made a hand gesture downwards to Chaewon. A bolt of electricity was sent towards the girl's face.

Electrokinesis.

She jolted upright as the electricity coursed through her body. She rose to her feet and clenched her jaw, glaring at Yena. She looked over at a suitcase beside her bed and she focused her energy on it, and with a flash jerk of her head, the suitcase came flying and hit Yena in the head.

The blonde was taken aback by her sister's sudden tantrum, expecting her to just take her light teasing as a joke.

"I'm not weak," Chaewon muttered as she lowered herself back onto the couch.

'What happened with the Bloodbound?" Hyewon asked, reading the room and discontinuing her mocking.

"The girl was so scared..." Chaewon trailed, staring into the fire. "The fact that she was so nervous made me nervous."

"Unnie," Yujin interrupted. "It's good that you're trying to control yourself again, but you realise that you do need to feed..."

"We get that you don't want to hurt anyone but this is what Bloodbounds are for... You're supposed to drink their blood," Yena continued.

"It's just-" Chaewon started. "She looked so pure in that moment. Like she'd never been hurt in her life. And I just don't think I can do that to another person again. I don't trust myself to stop. Especially after-" she hesitated.

Yujin held Chaewon's hand which was on her lap and squeezed it gently.

"We know, unnie. You've been doing so well this past year," Yujin said softly. "But don't put your health at risk just because you're scared of-"

Yujin looked up at the other sisters for reassurance.

She closed her eyes before she carried on, "just because you're scared of hurting people again. We're your sisters. We'll help you to control yourself. Just trust us."

"The smell of their blood is still so appealing to me. It's like I'm almost drugged by it," Chaewon said in a guilty tone, her head hanging low.

"I know," Yujin squeezed her hand once more. "And we'll get through it. You just need to control your thirst better."

Chaewon knew that it was going to be hard. For the past year she had been in absolutely no contact with a bloodbound nor a human being in the flesh. All of the blood she drank had to be given to her by her sisters, in the safe confinement of a bottle. She felt it was all too soon for her to be drinking straight from another person again.

But with the help of her sisters, and with the help of her newly assigned bloodbound, she hoped that everything would get easier.