1.

She left home at the age of 14.

it was the usual sob story for most heroines. She was the eldest out of four children with her mother who was aged quickly due to being overworked. Her father, who would have footed most of the expensive bills and showered his children with love, was taken from them by an aggressive and unrelenting sickness. Though he did not die so quick that the hospital bills didn't eat up all of her family’s savings. With no secure money income, their family barely got by. She grew tired of her family's suffering around the same time she grew tired of school. So, she figured she'd be hitting two birds with one stone when she chose to drop out of school and get a job of her own. At the time, there weren’t many who would hire a girl of her young age but she luckily did find employment at a convenience store across town. The only thing was the commute was long and it required money that she couldn’t afford to dish out.

After getting her first pay check and seeing how much it helped her family, she decided would have to leave them. She would find a place of her own around the area of the store and hopefully pick up some more hours. It was sad to leave her family, but she knew they could take care of themselves and that they would have one less mouth to feed. She told them she wouldn't forget about them and held true with that promise. She always sent half her paychecks to them and used the other half to pay for her own rent and necessities.

It was a lonely existence, but an existence nonetheless. She liked to think she lifted some burden off her mother and that her siblings were being fed regularly. Her employer was nice and liked her enough. She was always given the unpopular graveyard hours, where suspicious characters crept in the dark outside the store. She was okay with that though.

During the same time of her leaving home, the once hidden vampire race came out into the public and signed a treaty with the government. The people were appalled and terrified at first, but were soon won over by the race’s beauty and well-spoken speeches.

The world adapted to the change quickly and easily. Soon the convenience store she was employed were selling both legitimate and artificial blood packets (the artificial were much cheaper). She had the occasional vampire come in and try to charm her with their smiles. Some of the male ones would flatter her and ask if she was willing to donate to their cause. She would simply decline their offer and suggest the premium blood packets newly on sale instead.

The vampires were mostly friendly and were happy to finally be accepted by the world. However, where there is good, there is bad. They called them rogue vampires. They were vampires that would break rules of the treaty and harm humans with remorse. Ruthlessly gulping down their victim’s blood until their meal would go dry. The most frightful fact about the rogues were they would never stop until they were caught, punished and executed.

But, there weren’t a lot of those types roaming around anymore. Madelle wasn’t fully knowledgeable in vampires and how they worked, having dropped out of school before the vampire way of life became a part of the curriculum, but whatever punishment a convicted rogue vampire received seemed to be terrifying enough to keep their numbers close to null. Either way, she never met one and she sure hoped she wouldn’t have to in the future.

“500ml of D.O.C, B positive please.” A scruffy but attractive male vampire asked in a honey-like tone.

“Would you like it to be microwaved, sir?” She asked while scanning the blood packet.

The man raised his eyes from his money to meet hers. A smirk raised on his lips as he stared at her exposed neck. “Yes, that would be lovely…Madelle.” The eyes traced down and caught sight of her nametag. She tried hard to keep her features nonchalant, but vampires like the one before her made her nervous.

She totalled the vampire’s purchase after sticking the pack into the microwave behind her. He passed her the money, his cold fingers purposely grazing her own. She involuntarily flinched and quickly gave back his change. She opened the microwave door with much force and slid the lukewarm packet across the counter top. He picked it up and walked away, winking to her as he left.

She sighed and rubbed the hand that touched the vampire’s. She could still feel the chill of his touch. She hated it.

“Sorry Madelle!” Her co-worker exclaimed an hour later, racing around the counter to where Madelle stood.

“Don’t worry about it; I’m only getting your hours.” Madelle smiled and winked to her co-worker. She only got a playful eye roll back.  

“Whatever, listen. You be careful, okay? I heard there’s a rogue out and about.” Her co-worker leaned in and whispered with her eyes wide with worry. Madelle nodded and took heed of the warning.

She changed out of her uniform in the break room and pulled a large black hoodie over her head. Putting the hood up, she walked out of the store. She kept her eyes peeled open, roaming them across the dreary streets. She usually didn’t have to worry about walking back to her apartment. Not a lot of good or bad people were about at 4 o’clock in the morning.

“Madelle…”

She froze and turned around to find the source of the haunting whisper. She wasn’t sure if she was more relieved to see that no one was there or worried because she didn’t know who called out her name.

“Madelle…”

She picked up her pace. She pulled her hood down further and tried to not look frightened. Soon, she heard footsteps behind her, matching the beat of her own feet. She went a little faster only to hear them catch up effortlessly. When she tried to run, a strong hand gripped her and tossed her into an alleyway.

She fell down on her back with a groan. She lifted her head up and saw a shadow of a man towering over her. She scrambled to get away from the shadow but it was too quick for her. Gripping the front of her hoodie, the man pulled her arm and slammed her into a wall beside a dumpster.

“Madelle, why don’t you show your beautiful face to me hmm?”

She recognized that voice. When her hoodie was pushed back from her eyes, she was face to face from her vampire customer from earlier.

His hand caressed her cheek before running it along her jaw and down . His thumb repeatedly traced a large vein, pressing harder and harder each time. She was scared. Of course her luck would have her meeting one of the few rogue vampires that roamed that part of town.

The vampire busied himself by slow circles on the other side of her neck, groaning as he did. She knew she couldn’t push him away; vampires were much stronger than humans. However, thanks to science, there was a way to defend yourself against vampires. Thankfully she had packed it into her book bag that day.

Since the vampire seemed to be distracted by taste testing her skin before actually taking a bite of her, she quietly put her hand into her bag and found the tube she was rummaging for. She pulled it out after popping the cap off in her bag. She stationed the needle of the tube right by his side and when she felt two sharp pricks about to penetrate her skin, she the needle in.

The vampire howled in pain and dropped her to the ground. In a matter of seconds, the vampire slumped to the alleyway’s floor and was completely knocked out.

“Looks like there’s not much work to be done here.” A voice said from a few feet away. She quickly turned her head to the voice and stood up, ready to run.

Before her were two men around her age, both strikingly good looking. “Chanyeol, you can dispose of the body. I’ll take care of the girl.” One of them instructed. The taller boy of the two nodded and walked toward the vampire she had drugged. He easily swung the body over his shoulder and walked away, traces of fire igniting with each step.

“Wha-“ Madelle was about to ask.

“Hello, we are from unit 12 from V.A.R.A. or the Vampires Against Rogues Agency” The man drawled out as if he had spoken the words a few too many times. He flicked out a business card and reached it out to her. “If there has been any damage or loss, feel free to call our toll free helpline. If that is all, I must be—“

He froze mid-sentence when she took a step forward to retrieve the card. She lightly tugged on it in order to take it but the man wouldn’t let it go. She raised her eyes to meet his and leaned back when she noticed how close he had moved towards her. He, however, moved along with her. She took a step back and he took a step forward. This continued until she found herself up against a familiar brick wall.

The vampire before her flared his nostrils while his eyes were closed, appearing to be very concentrated on his thoughts. He took a deep breath of air and hummed strangely. When he took another step toward her, she definitely started to panic. Great, she thought, take one crazy vampire down only to meet another one.

A hand reached out to her and laced its finger gently into her hair. They lightly clenched, forcing her head to pull back and to become more exposed. She felt the cool tip of the vampire’s nose graze her nape and whimpered. Another intake of breathe and the vampire moaned. He moaned. She was done for. Completely done for.

She was then shoved harshly into the wall as the vampire pulled back violently. He had a hand over his mouth and his eyes open in disbelief. He ruffled a hand through his hair violently and looked completely flustered. He then gripped onto her shoulders tightly.

“Sorry.” He said.

Before she could say anything, the world around her started to spin rapidly. Her stomach lurched upward and then it dropped back down. Blizzard of colours formed in front of her eyes, making her feel so incredibly dizzy. She was going to throw up. She was going to puke. And when her world stabilized and she found herself in an unknown apartment, her stomach let go of its contents.

“What the-KAI!” A man rushed over, “Oh, you are so cleaning that up.”

“Smell her.” The other man, Kai, demanded pulling her along like a ragdoll. She wiped clean with her free hand and tried to pull her arm back.

“What—No! Man, she just threw up on the floor! As if I want to smell her.”

“Just do it, Sehun.” Kai gave the irritated man a pointed look. Sehun stiffened up immediately, catching onto Kai’s tone. He grumbled his way over to Madelle, who was still trying to get Kai’s death grip off her. She could only watch as Sehun approached her since Kai was doing a good job making sure she wasn’t going anywhere. She tensed as Sehun leaned in toward her and took a whiff of her. A look of confusion ran across his face. He got closer and smelled her again. “So?” Kai asked.

“Nothing.” Sehun leaned back and looked between the two of them shocked. “I smell…nothing.” Kai promptly cursed, letting her go. She took the chance and bolted to the nearest door. When she opened the door, another figure blocked her path.

The almost angel-like smile from the new stranger’s face dropped when he saw her. Confusion crossed his expression as well he sniffed the air around her. She tried to get around him, but he stopped her from exiting.

“What’s the meaning behind this?” He asked sternly, pointing to Madelle. “More importantly, whose is she?”

Sehun frantically shook his head and pointed to Kai, “Not mine! She’s his.”

She wasn’t anyone’s. She argued back in her head. “Would you please let me go?” She begged, hating how she sounded at that moment. She had never felt so pathetic in her life. Mr. Smiles looked to her and then to Kai, a questioning eyebrow raised.

Kai sighed, “I’ll walk her home.”

Sehun whipped around and gawked at Kai, “You’re letting her go? But, how can you? She’s meant to—“

“Shut up, Sehun.” Kai barked back, “I’m not doing this against her will.”

“She’s your blood companion, Kai.  She made perfectly to—“

“I said shut up!” Kai roared, making even Madelle flinch. First off, what the hell was a blood companion? And second, how does that relate her to Kai? Before she could pose these questions, Kai walked over to her and took hold of her arm again. He pushed past the other man and stormed out of the apartment.

“Wait! What about this mess?” Sehun called down the hallway.

“Clean it up yourself.” Kai yelled back, pulling Madelle away harder.  

“Let me go.” She said after they had gotten a good distance away from the apartment building. Kai blinked to her before he released her quickly.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, “Where do you live? I’ll you.”

She stopped walking and closed her eyes. Her mind was about to explode. She had never felt so confused in her life. “Listen, as nice as your offer is, can you just…leave me alone?”  She asked, “I don’t understand half of the things that have happened in the past hour nor do I want to know. So, could you just go back to where you came from?”

Kai shoved his hands in his pockets and faced her, “Sorry about this, but I do really mean you no harm.”

“Oh really? Was that statement valid before or after you were sniffing my neck and…?” she paused, flushing as the sounds Kai previously made replayed in her mind.

Kai gulped as his eyes trailed down her neck. She felt the stare and cupped her hand around her neck, sharply glaring at him.

“That...was different. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” Kai mumbled, averting his eyes to the ground.  If he thought the lost little boy act was going to work on her, he had another thing coming.

“And-and, what about that thing you did? We were in the alleyway and then in that apartment.” She motioned to where they came from and then froze, “Wait. No. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I’m going now.” She turned around to walk away from Kai but was frozen as soon as she saw what stood behind her.

Numerous small little creatures with black beady eyes and sharp teeth protruding from their lips smirked up at her. She was quickly pulled and pushed behind Kai as he placed himself face to face with the bizarre creatures.

“Malima.” He hissed, “What do you want now?”

A woman’s laughter trickled through the air as fog pooled together and created a 3D projection of a beautiful woman. “My, my. Is that any way to greet an old friend?”  

“Leave Malima, and take your minions with you.” Kai warned and snarling at the fog woman.

She hummed back when she caught sight of Madelle standing behind Kai, “Oh, and who are you hiding from me, dear Kai?” Kai straightened his back and tried to keep Madelle from Malima’s view. That didn’t seem to please her much. “Fine, have it your way.” With a wave of her hand, a minion sprung away from the pact and lunged for Madelle. Kai kicked the demon away, but not fast enough because one of its long talons had implanted itself into one of Madelle’s foot and tore through the skin.

Madelle screamed out and bent down to gripped her injury. Blood slowly seeped through her shoe and onto the pavement. She sharply took deep breathes in and out, trying to cope with the pain. Looking up, she realized how strangely Kai was observing her and her bleeding foot. It appeared as if he was almost choking on the air as he staggered away from her. Fangs started to grow and peak through his own lips. He covered his nose with his hand and tore his gaze away from her to turn to the fog woman.

The woman raised an eyebrow and regarded the two of them, “What’s this? Kai, whose control rivals the strength of steel, is reacting to a drop of blood?” The woman observed Kai a little longer before she burst out laughing, “Oh, I see now. She’s your blood companion then? How wonderful!”

Kai growled threateningly in return, “Leave Malima. She has nothing to do with this.”

“I’ll leave. But understand she now has everything to do with this, since she is connected to you. Poor girl, I pity her.” The woman winked over to Madelle as she cooed in her direction, “Now, I must go. But before I leave, a parting gift.”

The little demons flew through the fog and diminished the image of the woman. Kai took on any and all that approached them while Madelle was hopelessly on the ground behind him. She rummaged through her bag and equipped herself with her swiss army knife. Although a small weapon, she was able to keep any demon that got past Kai by accident away from her long enough.

Soon Kai was growing tired and beaten with still half a small demon army to face. “Listen.” He yelled over his shoulder to her, “I need you to hold onto something for me, can you do that?”

She nodded her head frantically, swiss army knife in front of her. Kai took a necklace off from his neck and tossed it to her. She caught it easily and examined the triangle pendant before returning her sights to Kai. She gasped as she saw markings slowly appear on his skin. Some sort of blue energy surrounded him and then exploded. The shockwaves hit Madelle hard and made her tumble back.

Scrambling to get up, she realized that a good portion of the remaining demons were knocked out. She couldn’t see Kai anymore until she saw a flash of him towering over one demon and stabbing it with a knife, then another flash he was attacking a demon a few feet away. She swore every time she blinked, Kai was somewhere else and killing a different demon than the last.

When the last demon was finished off, Kai turned to her and stumbled her way. She was shaking. Although she knew the vampire before her had just protected her, she was still very much terrified. Black markings covered his face and his hair was up in some sort of mangled mess.

“Pendant.” A scratchy voice called out to her.  She only gripped the necklace harder.  Kai slumped down to his knees, meeting her level. He slowly reached over and pried her hands open. As soon as his skin touched the pendant, the markings faded. Kai gasped, his eyes bulging until the transformation was complete.

“Sorry.” Kai said to her before the world around her distorted. Her stomach leapt into again, although not as harshly and it fell back down. After a few seconds, solid ground hit her knees hard. Raising her head, she realized she was back in the same apartment as before.

“Kai!” A man cried out and raced over to them. His wide eyes ran across Kai’s injuries before they landed her. “Who are you?”

“Uh.” She not-so-intelligently voiced out. Her mind wasn’t really working. She thought she had good reason to be that way though. Her entire world had been turned upside down and absolutely nothing was making sense.

“What—you’re here again?” Sehun approached her and cursed when he caught sight of Kai.

Kai reached up and gripped the wide eyed man’s shirt, “Get Chanyeol to dispose the bodies on 4^th and Marigold. Call M and mostly importantly,” Kai chocked out, “Keep her as far away from me as possible.” And then he passed out. 

Okay! First chapter done. ECKK. Hope that was okay. A lot of confusion but things will be explained later. Anyways, I have to REALLY GO. I'm leaving in like 6 hours and haven't packed yet. BYE BYE. <3333
Purplepluto out!