T/W: slight graphic description of violence (during some fights as vampires), slight description of wounds/injuries

 

It was another ordinary day for Chaehyun to be walking back her home after bidding goodbye to her friends after class had ended.

Being in a university is hard. Being in your freshman year in university is even harder.

Three months in university and this was what Chaehyun felt about getting into university.

She considered herself lucky, though. Being able to major in music, which has been her lifetime dream since she was young, was such a dream come true for her.

Although for this to happen, she had to move out from home and live nearer to her university. She was from Busan, so she could only go back home when she has the time to, during semester breaks.

But there was something unusual today…like, why was there a girl lying in a pool of blood in the alley she would pass by everyday?

If it wasn’t because Chaehyun had learnt first aid, the first thing she’d do when she saw the girl (and the pool of blood), she would’ve ran away.

Albeit a little scared, as a first aider herself, Chaehyun couldn’t allow herself to just leave the girl like that.

As she approached the girl, she heard a soft whimpering coming from her. Upon a closer look, she was actually shivering and sweating, possibly from the pain of her injuries.

“Hey, are you okay?” Chaehyun knelt down, turning the girl over gently to take a better look at her injuries. “I’m a first aider, I can help you–“

“Don’t! Just…leave me alone–“ as the girl spoke , she tried to look up to see her surroundings, as if trying to make sure there was no immediate danger. However, this pulled on her injuries and she scowled a little from the excruciating pain.

“Hey, hey. Don’t move, you’re going to make your injuries more serious–“ Chaehyun stopped, mouth agape as she finally saw the girl’s injury clearly.

The girl was wearing a black suit with a black turtle neck sweater, which initially made Chaehyun miss the biggest wound on her – which was on her chest. 

To be specific, right into her heart.

How was this girl even talking, even in a lot of pain, because normal humans would’ve died on the spot?

Chaehyun looked around, eyes spotting a sharp wooden…sword? It was  not far away from where they were, which Chaehyun assumed it was being thrown away by the girl in front of her. 

It was shining in daylight, because of how it was coated with blood.

“Go! Don’t help me, you’ll regret it,” the girl pushed her, making the wound in her heart hurt even more that the girl ultimately passed out.

You’ll regret it. Chaehyun could feel the determination in the voice of this girl who rejected her help, but she couldn’t let herself turn her back against the heavily injured girl – whoever she is.

 

 

Chaehyun was smart enough to know that hospital was a big no for the girl, whatever her identity is. Whether she’s a North Korean spy, or a mafia gang leader, it won’t stop her from treating the girl’s wound.

It’s just who she is. Chaehyun’s friends once joked that if she didn’t have such great love and passion for music, she would’ve enrolled in a med school instead.

She had always kept a mini first aid kit in her backpack, but looking at the situation, the girl would need more than just the mini first aid kit she has right now.

Deciding that there was no time to lose, she fished out her phone and called her cousin who’s a doctor in a hospital in Seoul.

“Chaewon unnie? I think I need your help in treating a serious wound, but we can’t go to a hospital…do you think you can help us get somewhere?” Chaehyun asked, her looks getting more and more worried as she tried to stop the girl’s bleeding – wait.

“Us? Who’s injured?” Chaewon’s confused voice came. “Where are you?”

“Unnie, I’m sorry, but I need to take care of something. I’ll call you back later today, I promise!”

Hanging up the phone call before Chaewon could say anything else, Chaehyun moved closer to look at the girl’s wound.

How the hell did her bleeding stop? I haven’t even done anything yet?

Confused, and perhaps with a little horror, Chaehyun didn’t know what to do as it seemed like the girl didn’t look as pale as before. Her breathing had also became steadier, which added to more of Chaehyun’s shock.

Chaehyun checked the smaller wounds she saw on the girl’s arms earlier, but they were gone as well.

Oh. God. What just happened.

 

 

Chaehyun made the decision to wrap the girl with her bunny blanket she carries around with her everyday, as she hailed a taxi to send them back to Chaehyun’s home. The blanket worked well, because the taxi driver didn’t notice the blood stains on the girl’s clothes that were starting to stain her blanket as well, so they got home quite quickly.

Chaehyun had to help the girl change into the oversized sweater she had as she wiped her clean from the blood stains, but she still hadn’t recovered from how the girl literally healed herself from such a serious wound on her heart.

She doesn’t think she’d ever recover from that. 

Once everything was done, Chaehyun left the girl sleeping in her room, as she got out of the room to take a breather. 

Her phone buzzed with an incoming call, then she finally remembered how she’d left Chaewon hanging on what happened.

“Hi, unnie. Sorry, uh…something came up. I don’t know how to explain this, but I saw a girl who collapsed in an alley and was heavily injured, and when I called you to get advises on how to treat her, her wounds just healed,” Chaehyun said it all in one breath, and sighed when she was finally done explaining the situation.

“…Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?” Chaewon asked hesitantly.

“The girl is in my room, right now! How would I have been dreaming?” Chaehyun lightly banged her head on the wall, still trying to process everything. “Anyways, sorry for making you worried, unnie. I’ll update you if anything happens.”

“Call me when you need help, I’ll try to rush over when I have time…if I have time,” Chaewon sighed. “If she’s someone dangerous, just…keep yourself out of it, alright?”

“I’ll try to. Bye, unnie.”

With a few more nagging from Chaewon, Chaehyun finally hung up the call.

Chaehyun took a deep breath, then she decided to go into her room to check on the girl’s condition, before she head to the kitchen to make herself some dinner.

Much to her surprise, the girl had woken up already. Chaehyun jumped a little when the girl fixed her gaze on her when she entered her bedroom. 

The girl didn’t say anything at first, but her gaze eventually softened and she sighed.

“Thank you, for taking me here, although I’ve clearly pushed you away before I passed out…I assume this is your place?” The girl asked.

“Oh, uh…you’re welcome…? It would be great if you could just…let me ask you a few questions,” Chaehyun said, a little unsure if the girl would agree to it or not.

The girl pondered for a little, before nodding. “Sure, as long as they’re not too personal.”

“I’m Kim Chaehyun, it’d be nice to know your name too, if you’re alright with telling me.”

“Ah…” the girl avoided Chaehyun’s gaze on her, considering for quite some time that Chaehyun thought she’d refuse to share her name with her.

“I’m Xu Ziyin. I’m…not a Korean,” Ziyin said, “Though I have been living in Korea for years.”

“Your name sounds Chinese,” Chaehyun stated. At least she’s not a North Korean spy.

Chaehyun was torn to ask about her wounds and her healing abilities, but she wasn’t sure if she should. Should she just give it a go…?

“I apologise, for being a little harsh in pushing you away and rejecting your kindness earlier. I…as you might have seen…have accelerate healing,” Ziyin shifted on her bed, as if being on edge. “I’m sorry I can’t say more than this.”

Chaehyun felt that there was much more than accelerated healing, but she didn’t press further. 

At least, not now.

“If you don’t mind, I need to leave now,” Ziyin got out of bed, looking prepared to leave.

“Wait, what? You were just seriously injured–“ Chaehyun was taken aback. She thought there was more time for her to ask more questions in the future.

“–And I’m all healed now. I’m fine, really,” Ziyin reassured the younger girl. “I just…have someone to meet. I have to go.”

When Chaehyun ran after Ziyin, the mysterious girl had already disappeared in the streets.

 

 

 

I don’t know since when

But when I see you, I feel like it’s destiny

In fact, Ziyin knew fully well what happened to her accelerated healing.

She would’ve died immediately when her attacker fled the scene, but Chaehyun happened to pass by and somehow saved her.

Vampire’s fatal weakness is being stabbed through the heart using a wooden weapon – which was what she experienced.

She should have been dead now. But she wasn’t.

It’s funny how vampires have soulmates. Human soulmates, even. Having a human soulmate is a rare occurrence, though. Even Ziyin, as a vampire who had lived 1056 years, only had a friend who had a human soulmate.

Ziyin wasn’t that old, even though she’s lived a thousand years. It was only equivalent to 24 years old in human age.

So, she should’ve been dead. Her accelerated healing wouldn’t have worked with such a fatal wound, but she lived.

Because of Kim Chaehyun.

She looked up to the night sky as she thought of the girl who saved her. 

“A human soulmate’s appearance could help a dying vampire recover from the most fatal attack. As when that human soulmate appears, it means that the vampire has finally been given the chance to live as a human – because they have wilfully given up the eternal life that was given to them.”

Ziyin could clearly remember the words her teacher had told her, a long, long time ago. 

She could also remember the reason why she gave up the eternal life that she was given since the day she was born.

There was no more reason to hold on to in this eternal life. Not when you’re all alone.

“Kim Chaehyun,” Ziyin mumbled the girl’s name gently, her eyes staring straight at the stars.

Like the stars shining in the night sky

Stay by my side for a long time

 

 

 

Every time I think of a poem called ‘you’

I want to memorise it so I can remember you

Chaehyun knew no Chinese words, but all she could think about for the next three days was how poetic the name “Xu Ziyin” sounds.

Chaehyun strummed on her guitar as she hummed a new melody that she hadn’t written before, when there was a knock on the door.

Curious about who would be visiting at this hour, Chaehyun checked from the cat eye just in case, when she saw the girl she had been thinking for the past few days.

Chaehyun hurriedly opened the door, before reaching out to stabilise Ziyin who seemed to be injured again.

“Why are you injured again?”

As Chaehyun dragged Ziyin to the sofa after locking the door, she waited a few minutes, and to her expectations, Ziyin’s wounds healed pretty quickly.

“You said you needed to meet someone, so I thought you were going somewhere safe, but why did you get yourself injured again?” Chaehyun nagged, passing Ziyin a damp towel to wipe herself clean.

“I…” Ziyin didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even plan to come to Chaehyun’s place, knowing full well her appearance here would only put Chaehyun in danger. But her footsteps still brought her here somehow. “I’m sorry, I’ll leave right now.”

Not giving Ziyin a chance to leave, Chaehyun pulled Ziyin’s arms and forced her to sit down on the sofa again.

“I would’ve stopped pressing for what’s happening if you’d just left and never come back that day, but now that you’ve came back, and you’re injured again, you can’t stop me from asking you about what’s really happening,” Chaehyun crossed her arms, standing in front of Ziyin, and frowned. “You know, as a first aider, I myself into lots of things, especially when people are injured.”

Chaehyun could see how Ziyin was struggling to arrive at a decision that could settle the situation.

At last, Ziyin sighed. “Fine. I’ll explain whatever the questions you shoot me.”

“Just bear in mind, you could be getting into a very danger situation, and I would love to leave, right now, if you would give up asking.”

“Are you being hunted down by someone?” Chaehyun asked.

A brief nod from Ziyin.

“Why do you have accelerated healing abilities?”

The hard question. 

Ziyin would prefer not telling Chaehyun about her vampire identity, but as far as she’s concerned, returning to Chaehyun’s place had put Chaehyun in a far more dangerous situation than she’d like to imagine.

Telling her the truth may actually help her to be aware of what might happen…

Ziyin snapped back to reality as she made up her mind.

“I’m a–“ Ziyin took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she breathe out the word, “vampire.”

She was expecting Chaehyun to scream and run away, but that didn’t happen; she was also expecting Chaehyun to run to the kitchen and pick up some garlics to throw against her (that doesn’t work against a vampire, by the way), but that didn’t happen as well.

Ziyin opened one of her eyes just to find Chaehyun being overly shocked from the fact that she’s a vampire.

In Chaehyun’s defence, Ziyin had never done anything that would harm her, not even revealing her fangs, so the most she felt was a huge shock, but not fear.

“That’s uhm…cool…? I guess…?” Chaehyun was barely able to give a reply. “Wait, then why were you unharmed on that day even though you were literally under the sunlight?”

Ziyin raised her brows, “Humans evolve, and vampires do, too. Some of us have evolved to be resistant to sunlight, but strong UV is still harmful to us.”

“And you exposed your weakness to me just like that? You don’t think I’d use that against you since I’m a human and I might actually think you’re dangerous?” Chaehyun asked, a little in disbelief. Why does the vampire in front of her even trust her?

Ziyin raised a brow and asked Chaehyun a question instead of answering her question, “Now, do you know where to get strong UV weapon against vampires?”

Oh. That’s true.

“Just to let you know, my presence here at your house has placed you in a great danger – but it’s not because I’ll need your blood or anything,” Ziyin hesitated a little before continuing, “As you already know, I’m currently being hunted down by other vampires, specifically from another family.”

Chaehyun nodded along what Ziyin said, but suddenly noticed something. “Wait, you said you wouldn’t need my blood…but surely you still need some as your food?”

“We vampires…have a special source of blood nowadays,” Noticing Chaehyun’s look in horror, Ziyin added, “without attacking humans for it. We’ve become much more civilised to live in peace with humans.”

“While I was getting my supply, I was attacked again. So no, I did not run into someone else’s lair just to get attacked,” Ziyin explained, feeling a little more relaxed after telling Chaehyun about her true identity, so she stood up and walked around Chaehyun’s living room.

“So you said vampires from another family are trying to kill you…but why? And where are your family members? Can’t you go back to them?” Chaehyun asked, the nth question she’d asked Ziyin for tonight. “Or are they…”

With Ziyin escaping from the hunt alone, it was quite clear that there was only one reason.

“My family was the peacemaker between vampires and humans for a very long time, being the strongest vampire family. But my family…has been killed, two centuries ago.”

Ziyin stopped in front of where Chaehyun left her guitar, and turned to look at Chaehyun’s eyes, her eyes deep with sorrow.

“By none other than the ones who are trying to kill me now.”

 

 

Chaehyun laid in her bed, thinking about what Ziyin said earlier. She still had many questions, and one of those was why Ziyin was the only one who survived? And why was she only getting hunted down now? But it seemed like Ziyin didn’t want to continue what they were talking about, so she left the topic at that.

The vampire had looked a little more vulnerable than she’d ever look, even though it was only the second time Chaehyun met her.

Although Ziyin said to reassure Chaehyun, she’d be outside Chaehyun’s locked bedroom just to keep her safe, in case her attacker would jump in anytime. Chaehyun thought twice about it, since Ziyin was still a vampire and she’s a human.

Ziyin pulled out a blood pack that looked just like the ones from hospitals, but with a better packaging and design. “Look, I have enough of these, so don’t worry.”

And just like that, Chaehyun was convinced, but she’d still lock her bedroom door just in case.

Maybe it was because of the shock that a certain vampire in her house had brought her today, Chaehyun soon found that she couldn’t fall asleep. After an hour of tossing and turning on her bed when it was already three in the morning, Chaehyun sighed and got up from bed, opting to go out into the kitchen to get some warm milk. It always helped her to fall asleep on her sleepless nights.

She found Ziyin sitting on the chair beside the window in her kitchen, looking up into the stars, as if lost in her own thoughts. Chaehyun saw the same vulnerable look on Ziyin when she talked about her family.

But Ziyin noticed her presence in an instant, and the look faded away in a second like it was never there.

Holding her glass of warm milk, Chaehyun chose to walk over to Ziyin, a hand placed on top of Ziyin’s right shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

There was no words exchanged, but somehow it felt a little different between them because of Chaehyun’s little gesture.

Somehow, Chaehyun’s presence during a night like this had comforted Ziyin, even by a little.

When the sad night comes, I’ll protect you

Can you hear my heart?

Don’t forget

 

 

 

Do you know how my heart

Won’t change with the passing seasons?

Just seeing your eyes alone

Makes me feel like I have the world

Things were kind of peaceful for a month. 

Ziyin would follow Chaehyun out to protect her while hiding in the shadows, so none of Chaehyun’s friends had seen her yet.

Some days, Ziyin would come back with some injuries, and every time, Chaehyun had the urge to wrap bandages around those wounds, but they’d heal in an instant.

Autumn had passed, and the cold winter came.

In the days that have passed, Ziyin would tell Chaehyun a little about the histories she had experienced herself in Korea, since she had lived such a long time here. 

Ziyin found Chaehyun’s eyes that were full of anticipation adorable, but would shrug it off every time the thought appeared in her head.

Chaehyun, on the other hand, would sing Ziyin some of her self-composed songs. And sometimes, Ziyin would brag about how she was once the great vocalist in her family, and join her in singing. Strangely, Chaehyun didn’t feel that Ziyin was someone much older than her. The feeling Ziyin gave her was just like Chaewon unnie, but also something more, which always left a tingling feeling in her heart, whenever she thought of Ziyin.

Their relationship was even comfortable enough for Chaehyun to call Ziyin “unnie”. But Chaehyun knew, there was something different whenever she calls Ziyin, unnie.

And maybe it was because of this, that made Chaehyun mustered up the courage to ask Ziyin what she has been up to, and why she had been coming back with injuries.

“I…” Ziyin’s voice faltered, as if thinking about how to phrase her words properly.

Chaehyun held up her hand, “I have all the time in the world, my semester has just ended. Just take your time. I know you might not be prepared to tell me everything, but I just want to give you a place to rant. Whether or not you want to tell me is entirely up to you.”

Another few moments of silence before Ziyin started speaking.

“I have been…getting members of the Wang family to switch sides to mine, and meeting up with some other smaller families to form an alliance with me,” Ziyin said. “I know it seems like I’ve been going into their lair, getting injured and all. It’s just…”

“Some didn’t come to you whole-heartedly, and brought others to attack you?” Chaehyun guessed, and Ziyin was a little surprised of how accurate it was.

“Well, yeah…” Ziyin sighed, sipping a mouthful of blood from her blood packs. “It still works somehow, I just want to give the Wong family a final blow. I might not be able to do much alone, so this is the only thing I can do for now.”

“Are you planning a revenge on them?” Chaehyun asked. She’s not approving of killing, but if they had killed Ziyin’s entire family two centuries ago…

Chaehyun’s gaze became a little dangerous.

Ziyin gave a soft smile to Chaehyun, patting her head gently. “Well, revenge, yes. Killing, no. I do want them to feel the pain of losing something important to them, but not like this.”

This sparked Chaehyun’s curiousity, who moved closer to Ziyin on the sofa, ignoring the blood pack in Ziyin’s hand.

“The sole thing the Wang family wanted from my family was power. They wanted to take over my family as the head of peacemakers between humans and vampires, as being the peacemaker means you’re the biggest and strongest family in the world of vampires. They fear our strong innate power, and also the influence we have as the peacemakers. Fun fact, the Wang family don’t all have the surname Wang. Some were recruited by their leader, Wang Yi, just to take us down, and now that there’s only me in my family, ‘taking the Xu family down’ isn’t exactly on their list anymore. Since they’re not literally part of the Wong family, they may get mistreated, even though they contributed to take my family down, and that’s a reason for them to break apart from the Wang family. Wang Yi has been harming humans, and I only have to find enough evidence for that to take him down. My plan is to take the power of being the peacemakers away from them,  turning their people against each other, slowly but surely.”

“I don’t have to kill, their greediness and stupidness will be the reason of their downfall.”

It is a genius plan indeed, but it’s also a long one, which requires lots of determination.

“I’ll do my best to protect you, and I won’t let my plan affect you in any way. In fact, I might leave for a few months.”

Chaehyun understood why Ziyin had to leave. She had no reason to stop her.

It was for her family.

“Come back, alive. For me.”

That was what Chaehyun said softly, almost like a prayer.

Their gazes met, and a soft kiss landed on Chaehyun’s forehead.

Ziyin felt it. The rush of unique gentleness and care that she had in her heart, only for the girl in front of her.

She felt how her world has been slowly rebuilt by Chaehyun, her human soulmate, from the ruins where she lost her family, from the aftermath of what felt like an apocalypse to her. It was like spring was coming into her life again.

But she spoke nothing about it. At least, not now.

“For you.”

Every time I think of a poem called ‘you’

I want to memorise it so I can remember you

When the sad night comes, I’ll protect you

Can you hear my heart?

Don’t forget

 

 

 

Even on the days the flowers bloom and wither

Just remember this

My heart for you

Ziyin found a place closer to Chaehyun’s university to let her stay at, since Chaehyun’s place might not be safe anymore.

Chaehyun was wondering why she could be kept safe when Ziyin frequently comes to her place, but Ziyin only told her that she was able to remove her scent, which makes it hard for the other vampires to track her. But there was still a possibility that they could be found, which is why Ziyin wanted Chaehyun move to another place before she focuses on her plan.

Ziyin didn’t tell Chaehyun how her accelerated healing was slowly losing its effect. It was a symptom of her losing her eternal lifetime, and she was slowly turning into a human.

How much time does she have left? Even Ziyin didn’t have a clue for it, which was why she wanted to execute her plan as soon as possible.

Ziyin winced as she applied the ointment on her bruised back, coming back from yet another attack. 

“Hey.”

Ziyin looked towards the source of voice, relaxing as she saw her friend Kong Xueer, who was looking at her worriedly. 

Xueer was the last person she could fully trust in the vampire world, as she was the undercover Ziyin sent into the Wang family.

“You okay? I guess it didn’t go well today?” Xueer sat down next to her, passing a blood pack for her.

Ziyin gave her friend a smile before she took a sip of blood. “It wasn’t that bad. The attackers were actually beaten up by the Kang family. How about you? How did the evidence search go?”

Xueer shrugged. “The Wang family is actually rotten up inside. Their mismanagement has led to many who wants to leave them. Plus, more and more realised how ed up their ‘leader’ is. So it wasn’t that hard to collect the evidences here and there.”

Ziyin raised her brows. “So we were right about how some are still working for Wang Yi just for his wealth and apparent power?”

“We sure did hit the bullseye with that,” Xueer replied, sighing in the process. “But Wang Yi is still influencing part of the human council of the peacemakers.”

“Exposing him attacking the humans like a psychopath to the human council would work, but it may also lead to the mistrust of the humans on us,” Ziyin felt a headache, “I’m not sure how to expose this to them without bringing harm to the vampire society. Not all are as cruel as him.”

“The older leaders in the human council still believes in your family, you know. Your surname is still influenceable to them. They will believe you, that you will do a good job in being the head of peacemakers,” Xueer said, a firm belief in her words for Ziyin.

“Xueer, I can’t be the head of peacemaker. I don’t have a family behind me anymore. I’m not-“ Ziyin took a deep breath. “I’m not a full vampire anymore. I’m not qualified.”

“I know,” Xueer glanced at Ziyin’s wounds that would’ve been healed if she still had her accelerated healing, “but you’re the only shot we have. The smaller families came together to support you to take Wang Yi down. You have the alliance.”

It was a heavy responsibility, but her alliance was counting on her. 

Ziyin complied. “I’m the one who started this, I should at least lead you all to end it while I’m still a vampire.”

“Does she know?” Xueer asked suddenly, and even though she didn’t mention any names, Ziyin knew who she was talking about.

“I didn’t tell her.”

“Which was why you were running around to meet with the leaders of different families even when you haven’t recovered from your injuries?” Xueer asked in disbelief. “I should’ve gotten her phone number from you so she could at least nag at you…”

“Woah, stop. I don’t want her to get close to another vampire,” Ziyin held her hand up, disapproving of what Xueer said. “It’s already dangerous enough for her to know me.”

Xueer had a teasing smile on her face. “How long has it been since you left for your plan?”

“Two months…and a half, I think? Since it’s spring already.”

“Go to see her if you miss her. I’ll cover you up in case someone’s tracking you,” Xueer said, a dagger radiating with UV rays in her hands as she spoke.

“In my condition now?” Ziyin said. “But-“

“There isn’t much time left till we expose Wang Yi at the council meeting. We don’t know what’s gonna happen, if we’ll succeed or not. We still have one day until then, you should take the chance when you still have the time,” Xueer persuaded Ziyin. “Even though your condition isn’t that good, but still.”

Ziyin contemplated for a bit, before dissolving into the darkness as she sped through the streets to Chaehyun’s place.

 

 

Ziyin didn’t know whether she should consider herself being lucky or not, since Chaehyun was asleep already. She silently entered her room as she stared at the face she had missed for so long.

Her gaze traced the features on Chaehyun’s face, as if trying to carve them into her brain, so she could remember it forever. The council meeting was Ziyin’s final shot, but she wasn’t confident about what Wang Yi will do when he gets exposed directly in the meeting.

A bloodbath? That’s likely. Good thing Ziyin has a backup plan to protect the human leaders first. They will be sent away if a fight breaks out.

Pushing away the thoughts about the council meeting, Ziyin fished out a small glass bottle with a little of her blood, dangling on the necklace she was holding. She then placed it on top of Chaehyun’s bedside table, together with a note.

“Put this necklace on, just like you’re keeping me close.”

 

 

Everything went well in the council meeting. A little too well.

Ziyin frowned as she looked at how calm Wang Yi was when evidences of him and his men hunting humans down crazily were being shown to the human council of the peacemakers.

“…As shown, I thereby request Wang Yi to be stripped away his post as the head of peacemaker and his position in this council. The humans will be able to decide the punishment that will be given to him. We vampires will not intervene,” Ziyin said firmly.

“Request accepted. And the new head of the peacemaker from the vampires will be…?” The human leader spoke, gesturing someone to take hold of Wang Yi.

“The temporary head will be me, Xu Ziyin. However, I propose a rotational change in the leader between the families of my alliance-“

A deafening BOOM came, and Ziyin’s instinct was to sprint over and protect the human leader as much as she could, rolling to the side as she shielded the man from the explosion.

Shoving the leader towards the people Ziyin brought in to send the humans away, she turned to face Wang Yi and his men, as she hissed and showed her fangs in anger.

“Think before you move, Ziyin. She is in our hands,” Wang Yi said, a lopsided smile on his face.

What…?

There was no time to think, as Chaehyun was being brought in by Wang Yi’s men.

“I knew you were going to ruin my reputation, and I knew it couldn’t be avoided because of how much my people had given up on me…so I decided to bring you a surprise.”

Blood were dripping down from Chaehyun’s forehead as she was still in an unconscious state. The smell of blood made Wang Yi’s men and the vampires around them hiss, until Ziyin roared a STOP when an invisible pressure pressed on them that they whimpered.

The vampires on Ziyin’s side quickly took control of themselves, making Ziyin’s pressure to fade away so that they could bear it, except for the men working for Wang Yi.

Wang Yi seemed to only be affected by a little, and Ziyin wasn’t surprised. He was the strongest in the Wang family, and the greediest one. It was why he attacked so many humans in the first place, to sell their blood in vampire’s black market to earn more money.

“…What do you want?” Ziyin asked, her eyes never leaving Chaehyun, making sure that they wouldn’t have the strength to harm her by controlling the pressure she pressed on them.

“Me?” Wang Yi scoffed, “You took everything away from me, and I don’t think I can still have them back. So it’s only fair for you to sacrifice something…or someone, don’t you think?”

“You can take me, I don’t even care. But not her,” Ziyin frowned, trying not to show her desperation by showing her coldness when negotiating, “I can go with you, and you can do whatever you want on me, just like you did with my family centuries ago.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Wang Yi laughed, gesturing the man on his right to splash some water onto Chaehyun’s face to wake her up. “I told you, you have to bear the pain of losing someone again.”

Then it connected. Why Wang Yi let her live all these years, knowing she would be a potential threat; why Wang Yi hunted her down now but not before...and also why Chaehyun had been apparently safe.

It was all because of Wang Yi’s arrogance, since he thought a sole vampire could not bring him down.

Being the madman he is, Wang Yi wanted her, the supposed heiress to the Xu family, to suffer from the pain of losing her family. Then to hunting her down now because she was becoming the threat he was always feared of. 

He enjoyed looking at her sufferings.

And all these times, it wasn’t because Wang Yi’s men couldn’t track her trace to Chaehyun’s house, it was only because they wanted to let her guard down on protecting Chaehyun and focus on her plan on bringing Wang Yi down, so that they could bring her in to threaten her as a last resort.

Her eyes turned ice cold. “You won’t negotiate, then?”

“Unnie!” 

Ziyin looked at Chaehyun, making sure the only injury was the one on her forehead, before she sighed in relief. Chaehyun’s eyes were half with fear, but more with determination – determination that tells Ziyin to finish off her plan.

“Of course, I won’t,” there came Wang Yi’s reply.

Almost at the same time, Ziyin nodded towards Xueer, while a vampire working for Wang Yi tried to stab a knife into Chaehyun’s body.

Things were in slow motion for a while.

Ziyin sped across the room to reach the vampire who was trying to kill Chaehyun, while Xueer tried to fight off Wang Yi to buy her some time. The other vampires collided and a fight started.

Pushing the vampire away from Chaehyun, Ziyin slashed the UV dagger in her left hand towards another vampire who attempted to jump on her, while the gun with UV bullets in her right hand fired into the chest of the vampire she pushed.

Chaehyun fell into her embrace as Ziyin fired away the other vampires, just in time for Xueer to shield Chaehyun from another knife from Wang Yi’s man. With a nod from Ziyin, Xueer escorted Chaehyun out of their fight and Ziyin was left facing Wang Yi.

The man smiled cruelly, and before Ziyin could fire a shot on him, an excruciating pain expanded from her heart, as both a wooden dagger was stabbed through her left chest, and a UV bullet was sent right through Ziyin’s shoulder from Wang Yi’s men behind her.

She could feel blood gushing towards , as her vision blurred. Biting her lower lips so she could regain some consciousness before life faded from her body, she fired three continuous shots into the man before her eyes.

These shots weren’t enough to kill him, but it was enough pain to stop him from attacking anyone else.

And then Ziyin fell.

Hitting the ground hard, her gun slipped off her hand, and she heard people shouting to get a hold of Wang Yi, as more of her alliance’s back ups filled the room.

Everything was getting blurry, and the voices were all getting mixed up.

She had turned human entirely, huh? That was why she could felt her life leaving her as her blood gushed out of her wounds like a water tap being left open. That was why she could feel herself getting colder and colder.

At least Chaehyun’s safe.

That was Ziyin’s last thought before she closed her eyes.

 

 

Fear. Desperation. Pain.

It was what Chaehyun felt when she saw Ziyin fell lifelessly onto the ground right in front of her eyes.

She wanted to run over to Ziyin, but the situation was just starting to get under control, so Xueer didn’t allow her to go, grabbing her arms tight.

It felt like an eternity before Chaehyun was let go, and she quickly ran over, kneeling beside Ziyin’s body. Her hand was trembling as she reached out to touch her, her eyes blurry with tears.

Isn’t she a vampire? Isn’t she supposed to live forever? Doesn’t she have accelerated healing? Why doesn’t it work anymore-

She turned towards the vampire who was holding her, desperate for answers.

Xueer tried to stay calm, as there were things for her to do, and to explain. 

“Vampires don’t usually have human soulmates. But when they do, it means they’ve given up their eternal life. The first time the human soulmate appears is always when the vampire was suffering from a deadly injury, and their appearance could save them. But that’s it, that was the only time their human soulmate could save them, because as I said, they’ve given up their eternal life. They would slowly transform into a human, their accelerated healing would slowly disappear. They would still have their innate special abilities such as speed, but until they’ve turned into a human entirely…”

Xueer’s voice faltered, her gaze fixing on her best friend with sorrow.

“They will die, if they suffered from a serious injury.”

Tears streamed down off Chaehyun’s cheeks, as her hand reached up to grab the small glass bottle on her necklace that contained a little of Ziyin’s blood. 

It was already broken in the process of Wang Yi’s men of kidnapping her, so she could only feel the remaining blood stains on the broken glasses.

Why do I have to lose everything about you…?

Her tight grip on the broken glass had cut her hand, but she was unaware of the pain from her palm.

Blood dripped from her wound, down onto Ziyin’s wound on her chest.

Xueer tried to reach out and stop Chaehyun from holding the glass pieces, before she stopped and stared at Ziyin’s wound instead.

“H-hey…”

Chaehyun snapped back to reality as Xueer called out to her.

“Ziyin’s wound–“

Gone.

Chaehyun hurriedly placed her index and middle fingers on the side of Ziyin’s neck, and there she felt a weak pulse.

She locked gaze with Xueer in disbelief.

“Did she…did she–“

Xueer did the same to check Ziyin’s pulse, before she sighed in relief and slumped on the floor.

“She’s back. She’s alive,” Xueer mumbled, her eyes red.

With the reassurance from Xueer, Chaehyun finally ruled out the possibility that she was hallucinating, as new tears of happiness washed away the previous tears of despair.

Thank god you came back alive.

Chaehyun thought as she hugged Ziyin gently, although the latter still hadn’t opened her eyes.

 

 

 

Some day, we might get far apart

If I was you, I would be able to wait

Even after time, I’ll be right here

So don’t hesitate

When that time comes

Ziyin had both vampire and human doctors to look after her. After all, she had exposed the dirty deeds that Wang Yi has done, restoring peace between vampires and humans.

Xueer looked up many centuries-old books in their library to find out what happened to Ziyin, and what resurrected her.

There was a myth saying that in a very rare occurrence, the blood of a human soulmate could save a dead vampire who died as a human. There were no other records of this, so most of the vampires disregarded this as only a myth.

But it happened to Chaehyun and Ziyin, which proved that it was not only a myth.

Chaehyun waited for a year before she got to see Ziyin again. The older girl had went into a deep sleep for six months, which was a way vampires regain their energy after self healing from a serious injury, according to Xueer. Even though Ziyin had already turned into a human, but Chaehyun and Xueer both supposed that the restoring energy from self healing part still worked the same as a “vampire” rather than as a “human” for the last time for Ziyin. 

Then Ziyin spent another six months to make sure she was fully recovered, before wrapping up her plan in the council of peacemakers after successfully bringing Wang Yi down.

She would video call Chaehyun occasionally though, to tell her about her updates, and she also brought the news that the human leaders sentenced Wang Yi and his men to death, much to everyone’s agreement.

Ziyin had also brought a change to the council, introducing a rotational change for the position of the head of peacemakers, where each leader of the families in her alliance would be given a chance to be the head for a certain period of time. 

During that period of time in waiting for Ziyin, Chaehyun graduated, and got recruited into an agency as a young and talented music producer.

And now, before her eyes, Ziyin’s alive, breathing, and conscious.

None of them spoke, as they just stared at each other.

Chaehyun reached out her hand to pinch Ziyin’s cheeks.

“Hey–! Ouch! What was that for?” Ziyin rubbed her cheeks to lessen the pain as she muttered. “Shouldn’t you be happy to see me again?”

Chaehyun ignored her question. “Are you really a human now?”

“Well, I would’ve showed you my vampire hangs if I still have them,” Ziyin grinned.

Out of nowhere, Chaehyun spread her arms and squeezed Ziyin tight.

“Wait, Chaehyun-ah, it’s too tight-” Ziyin patted Chaehyun’s back, before getting some space to breathe again.

“Thank you for coming back alive, unnie,” Chaehyun sniffled a little, burying her nose onto Ziyin’s neck.

“I told you I would do it for you,” Ziyin sighed a little, hand rubbing circles to comfort the girl.

“Now that I’m still here, should we go enjoy the time I have left as a human?” Ziyin grinned again, trying to make Chaehyun cheer up. “You know, I have lots of food that I want to try since I was still a vampire. I couldn’t taste anything when I eat human food as a vampire.”

“How about the tteokbokki place right around the corner outside your university?”

Chaehyun laughed a little at Ziyin’s silly wish as a vampire, face now full with smiles.

“This way, my lady. We’ve got a human lifetime to spend, ex-vampire.”

 

 

A/N: Thank you for reading this all the way to the end!! I really really hope you guys enjoyed it :] This is my first long one shot so I'm really satisfied with how much I wrote for this TT I tried to fine-tune the details of the vampire concept and its world view within the framework of this fic, but I don't think I did a really good job for it TT if you guys have any questions about it, I'll try to answer it if you'd like to leave them as comments! It's meant to be an easy read, so I hope it was a good read for y'all T - T it's also my first chaezi fic in which I put them in a relationship, unlike my previous two chaezi fics that are friendship-centred instead akjfhsdkjfh

As I mentioned in the foreword/notes in the beginning, this was inspired by Chaehyun's All About You cover, because it got me looping since my first listen TT I also tried to incorporate the meaning of the lyrics into the corresponding part of the story, I wonder if it's a success and if yall noticed it SKDJFHKSJDHFKSJFH The first one-third of the fic had already been in my drafts since October last year, and I gradually added to it the next few days until it was halfway done. Then I picked this fic up again two or three days ago and finished writing it in one go (blame me for missing chaezi suddenly)

I hope y'all like this chaezi fic anyways! It's a pity I'm the only one writing for them since the beginning until now, but that's how it is TT hopefully I'll get to write some more in the future if I get some random prompts (by you or some random thoughts I have hehe) I do hope someone else write for them too, I need to read something about them without writing it myself TT

It's kinda amazing how I still get to write something for them even thought there aren't any interactions between them anymore PLEASE 

Anyways, thank you for reading my chaezi fic, and I hope yall liked it uwu Do leave some comments, or drop by my curious cat account, link can be found at my twt @ziyiniverse if you wanna discuss anything about this chaezi fic (or drop some prompts, I may write it if I have time)

Till then, I'll be on a hiatus again, until I wanna write something again HAHAHAH