Chapter 6. An Unexpected Meeting

The forest quickly became foggy and colder than it was a few minutes ago. Chaewon remained still as she kneeled on the ground, staring at the pink-haired girl in front of her. She seemed stuck in a daze as she fixed her eyes upon Sakura, her cousin whom she hadn’t seen in over a year. Chaewon’s vision became so blurry and dizzy that she could no longer interpret her surroundings. The cloudiness of the fog didn’t help, either.

Yujin glanced downwards and her eyes flickered back up to Wonyoung’s widened eyes when she realised that they were clinging onto each other’s waists. Wonyoung shook her head as if to make herself come back to her senses, and she firmly pushed Yujin away.

Yujin wasn’t up for games, however, as soon as she saw her cousin.

“Kkura unnie?” Yujin shouted, squinting to try and see through the thick fog.

Chaewon gathered herself up on the ground once Sakura’s attention had been drawn to her sister. She quietly hobbled over to Minju, who was still silently covering behind the tree. Pain struck Chaewon with every step she took; she felt herself losing her senses and her vision as the energy was drained from her. She felt as if she was going to collapse. 

That was, until, Minju’s arm quickly circled her when she fell to the ground just by the tree. Minju pulled her in close. 

“Unnie,” Minju whispered urgently. 

She laid Chaewon against the tree trunk and noted that her eyes were opening and closing but extremely slowly. Minju scurried to search for Chaewon’s injury, and she came across a bloodstain that was leaking from her shirt. She lifted the shirt carefully, flinching when she heard Chaewon inhale sharply and glance down at the wound.

“You got splinched,” Minju said in a panicked voice.

Chaewon’s face creased up in pain when Minju used her hoodie to apply pressure onto the deep scratch.

“Ah,” Chaewon flinched once more. “It hurts too much.”

“So cousin,” Sakura’s voice echoed in the open space. “How have you been?”

Yujin tensed slightly at the sound of her voice. Her cousin’s side of the family had a notorious past for ripper killings, and although Yujin was too young to understand how dangerous their family was, the girl’s presence still made her uneasy. Yujin swallowed hard to remove a lump from , and her eyes flitted worriedly between Chaewon’s spot behind the tree and Sakura.

“It’s been a while, unnie,” Yujin responded once she had realised that she was stalling for too long.

Everything about Sakura’s residence scared her - if Yujin and her sisters were considered deadly at their school, then the ripper side of the family would be considered lethal. Yujin was certain that Sakura’s sudden showing up would shake Chaewon; it would resurface all of her memories from the past and it would destroy her. 

Once Minju had bandaged Chaewon all up, she put Chaewon’s arm around her shoulder so that she could stand. Chaewon knew all too well that the more she hid from her cousin, the more Sakura would become obsessed with playing cat and mouse- with Chaewon ending up as the victim. It was better to come out from the dark completely than to meddle with the girl’s obsession with hunting.

“I came here because I thought I smelled human blood,” Sakura said, a psychotic smile plastered on her face.

Both Yujin and Wonyoung felt their muscles tighten when they saw Chaewon and Minju emerging from the safety of the tree. They were shuffling along the ground, in their direction. 

“Wait…” Sakura trailed, her nose wrinkling as she smelled a change in the air. She looked like a lion who had just come across its prey.

She turned her head slowly until her eyes landed upon Chaewon and Minju, who were just a few metres from arriving next to the other pair.

Chaewon disconnected her hold from Minju and she stood up straight with her feet shoulder-width apart. She tried to look as strong as possible as she glared straight at her cousin. 

“She’s with us,” Chaewon firmly said, her arm unconsciously pushing Minju behind her shoulder. 

Sakura chuckled humorously as she raised her hands in the air as a truce. She stepped forward a little closer to the group.

“This is how you greet me after so many years, Chaewonie?” 

Chaewon stayed silent, just ensuring that Minju was far from the girl’s sight.

Sakura tilted her head to the side patronisingly, and she observed the scared brunette girl who was looking downwards. 

Chaewon stepped forward defensively.

“Don’t even think about it.”

She didn’t even want to know what Sakura was thinking, and good for her, she couldn’t. She couldn’t read her mind even if she wanted to. This worried Chaewon a bit but she was secretly grateful nonetheless. She knew exactly what her cousin was capable of. Memories of the past flashed before her eyes as she remembered how easy it was for her to be coerced into years of sheer murder. She would never forgive her cousin for the pain she put her through; she would never forgive her cousin for being the cause of her deathly thirst for blood. 

“My father would be astounded to see just how close you’re standing to a Bloodbound without ripping their head off.”

Chaewon clenched her jaw. She absolutely loathed the way Sakura spoke about Minju, as if all she was was a piece of meat. 

As she stood behind Chaewon, all Minju could do was look at her feet and pray; pray that they could skive out of the situation at hand. She gripped onto Chaewon’s arm tightly, knowing that the girl grounded her and made her feel safe.

Likewise how Yujin could sense Chaewon’s uncomfortability, Wonyoung, too, could sense how tense Yujin was. 

Wonyoung is, and has been perfect her entire life. Even before she enrolled in Blanditia Fanum, she thoroughly excelled in human life. From having the top grades in every class, to being ranked number two (she always came second to Minju), she was perfect in every single way. Not to mention her goddess-like visuals which made everyone fall for her. 

But in spite of her perfect life, she had never experienced a situation quite like this before. She’d never been prepared for a moment like this to come - she realised that real life wasn’t a matter of textbook knowledge, but a matter of experience. School never teaches them things like, how to act when you come across a bloodthirsty murderous vampire, or a 101 guide on how to defend yourself from the earth’s deadliest killer. 

She knew that her book smart ways wouldn’t save her now.

Even though she liked to tease Yujin about how she lost to her in the duels, and even though she would poke fun at her for having weak game-sense, Wonyoung found herself unconsciously shuffling to stand behind the older girl. At the end of the day, jokes were just jokes, right? She wasn’t sure why, but Yujin radiated a sort of comforting energy- Wonyoung found it intriguing how nothing seemed to faze the girl; whenever they had exams for class she never studied for them, and even for the duels she didn’t practice. Yujin had a carefree aura which Wonyoung envied. If the girl only studied a little harder then maybe she’d be able to beat her.

And regardless of whether she beat Yujin in the duels or not, Yujin still had a tough knack for fighting. Her pyrokinesis gave her an advantage in almost any situation. So with this in mind, Wonyoung continued to stand behind her, fully believing that Yujin would be able to protect her if it came down to it.

Yujin felt her hand flinch when she felt soft skin brush against it. Followed by a single pinky finger which hooked onto her own. She froze on the spot and her eyes frantically looked around, trying to come across as though she hadn’t noticed the blatantly obvious movement. 

“Yujin unnie,” Wonyoung hid her whisper as she tucked her face into Yujin’s hair. “I’m scared.”

Yujin couldn’t even bring herself to react to anything anymore, as Wonyoung had just slipped her entire hand into hers. The taller girl entwined her fingers around Yujin’s cold ones. Instead, she chose to give Wonyoung’s hand a light squeeze.

“You know Dracula Manor is only a few miles away,” Sakura’s voice echoed once more, gesturing behind her.

Yujin nodded cutely, trying to wash away the unnerving atmosphere.

“That’s cool, unnie.” Yujin said. “Well, we should really get back to finishing our project,” she continued, shifting on the spot to signify that it was time to take their leave.

But Yujin’s attempt was suppressed and she stopped moving when Sakura spoke up again.

“You guys should drop by the Manor,” she gave a slightly menacing smile that sent chills down the girls’ spines. “We are family, after all. Come visit us.”

Chaewon opened slightly and her heart began to beat a little faster as they needed to come up with an excuse, and quickly.

“Unnie,” she began. “We’re just here to collect some stuff for a project and we need to be back in school by the morning. So we should really get go-” Chaewon stopped in her tracks while she pulled Minju along with her.

Sakura zoomed to the front of them, blocking their path. Now Chaewon could see her clear as day beyond the fog. The image of an absolutely maniac killer. 

“Come on now, cousins,” Sakura’s eyes moved between Chaewon and Yujin. But occasionally her eyes would land upon Minju. She became increasingly interested in the sweet-smelling, frightened girl. 

“Just one visit,” Sakura pouted. “My father would love to see his nieces.”

Chaewon side glanced at Yujin. Yujin looked back. They made a silent agreement.

They both knew that there was no escaping the situation. Together, they were powerful, but they were nothing compared to Sakura. With her years and years of experience, she’d be able to rip them apart in seconds. And Chaewon knew better than to mess with her uncle’s side of the family. Any sign of resistance towards them, and they would turn it into a brutal hunting game. That’s just the way they are. 

“Okay,” Chaewon managed to say through clenched teeth. 

And with that, they followed Sakura into the darkness.