It was so not Taeyeon to be late when it comes to assignments. But the sleepless nights she endured for the past two weeks made it hard for her to concentrate. And six full pages worth of an essay about ‘Romeo and Juliet’ wasn’t an easy task to do. But Taeyeon managed to at least finish the paper a day after the due day. Now she just needed to pray that the professor would be kind enough to at least not give her a D.

She quickened her pace with the paper on her hand and her heavy bag on her shoulder. It was only the third period. The professor was a really punctual person, and Taeyeon needed to sacrifice her theater class to submit her homework.

The hallway was empty, of course the students were already in their classes, and all that could be heard was Taeyeon’s harsh and quick footsteps. Just when she was about to take the stairs to the second floor, she noticed an all so familiar figure a few meters ahead of her. The hair was blonde and short, and a familiar disturbing scarf was wrapping the neck, again.

What is Sunny doing here?

Sunny never took theatre classes. Taeyeon knew what a horrible actor Sunny could be. Taeyeon realized she was supposed to call her friend and asked what she was doing, but somehow her conscience led her to something.

Sunny was taking the stairs casually. Taeyeon waited for a minute or two until she was sure Sunny already reached the second floor. After she no longer heard Sunny’s heels stomping against the floor, she took the stairs carefully, not too fast and not too slow.

When she reached the door, she peeked outside and saw her friend walking alone in the empty hallway. Sunny’s body was a bit stiff, she could tell. Maybe that was what made her curious; Sunny had been acting strangely for a few days now.

She knew something was off with her friend.

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows upon seeing Sunny turning to enter the room on the side of the hallway. As soon as the door was closed, Taeyeon revealed herself from behind the door. She walked carefully again, trying to mute her footsteps, although sometimes her heels failed her.

She then realized that Sunny was entering one of the studios that they often used for musical rehearsals. Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows even more, questions and curiosity clouding her mind. A few moments later she finally reached the wooden door. She was about to turn the knob and enter the studio when something caught her attention.

She saw through the small glass window on the door that Sunny was facing someone. And that someone was none other than Im Yoona.

Seriously, what is Sunny doing with her?

Sunny’s back was facing Taeyeon so she couldn’t see her face. But it seemed like Sunny was hanging her head low while Yoona was watching her with straight face. Her body was shivering like a few days ago when Sunny first came back to class after being absent for a couple days. Is Sunny crying?

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

Taeyeon jumped at the low voice behind her back. She turned around abruptly and was greeted by a brunette male figure. His face was straight but his eyes were piercing hers.

“D—Donghae-ssi…” Taeyeon stammered.

Donghae didn’t say anything instead kept staring at her. Somehow that look managed to make Taeyeon feel slightly intimidated. From what Sunny had told her, Lee Donghae was a nice and friendly guy. But apparently the standing Donghae in front of her was not.

There she saw it again, the splash of red deep inside those brown orbs.

“Professor Baek is waiting for you, Taeyeon-ssi,” Donghae said in a low voice.

“A—ah yes,” was all Taeyeon could say before storming out of Donghae’s sight.

---00---

Soon as Donghae was sure Taeyeon was far enough, he turned the knob and opened the door before entering the room. He caught sight of his lover standing right in front of Sunny who was pathetically trembling. Though she managed to pull herself together gradually.

He walked to the two coolly, “How is she doing?” he asked.

“Better than yesterday. She’s quite fast actually. I’m giving her less and less every day,” Yoona replied before giving Dongha a quick peck on the lips.

Donghae wrapped his arms around Yoona’s waist and concentrated his gaze on Sunny. He noticed the small plastic bag Sunny was holding was almost empty. Sunny was closing her eyes and her breath was slow, clearly trying to calm herself.

“You need to be more careful, Kim Taeyeon was following you earlier,” Donghae trailed.

Sunny opened her eyes abruptly and faced Donghae immediately. was slightly gaped, “Taeyeon? She saw?”

Donghae shook his head, “I don’t think so.”

A slight relief hit Sunny’s chest. She just didn’t know what to do if her friend found out about her.

“Sungmin hyung will pick you up later. He said he was going to take you somewhere to release some of your stress,” Donghae said while tightening his arms around his girlfriend.

Sunny just nodded in response.

Eight people excluding himself, Leeteuk counted. Heechul wasn’t present and Kibum had no idea on wherever his older brother could be. In all honesty, Leeteuk was utterly worried about his friend. It had been days since he last saw the younger and since he left his office after their conversation with Jaesun, he couldn’t contact Heechul no matter what.

If there was one person Heechul would trust enough to tell his whereabouts whenever he felt like going far for a few days, it was Jessica. But Leeteuk wasn’t really sure if she knew anything about it. Since she arrived at the chamber, she looked awful. True, Jessica smiled rarely, but she didn’t frown often either. And seeing Jessica looking down at her hands with an unreadable face was new for Leeteuk.

He wanted to ask her but perhaps it wasn’t the best timing. After all, they didn’t gather to talk about Heechul.

Leeteuk cleared his throat and soon the other seven people on the chamber turned their heads on him. He put on his usual charismatic mask and began his talking. “Heechul and I had spoken with my father,” he fiddled his fingers, eyeing all of the first-borns one by one. “It’s regarding the stimulant.”

The room was silence but everybody had different expressions. Most of them were indicating confusion.

“What’s a stimulant?” it was Yuri who spoke this time.

 “Well for starters, let me explain what happened a few nights ago during our hunting since a few of you weren’t with us,” Leeteuk straightened up his back. “At the end of our hunting night, Siwon underwent some encountering with a Chinese vampire, Zhoumi. Not only he had penetrated our territory but he was also feeding here.”

“What made him come all the way here to our country?” Tiffany asked.

Leeteuk sighed, “Apparently he was searching for the stimulant.”

And when there was no respond at all in the room, Leeteuk continued, “A stimulant is a person who carries a rather extraordinary kind of blood. It has been said that whoever drinks a stimulant’s blood, they will become immune to anything.”

Kyuhyun furrowed his eyebrows, “Immune as in…?”

“Invincible,” Leeteuk cut. “And it has also been said that a stimulant’s blood can stop a vampire from aging. In short, whoever drinks it can live until hundreds of years.”

“Is that why our ancestors are still alive until today?”

“I’m not sure, Seohyun. It could be that maybe they were just saving their powers to prevent themselves from aging,” Leeteuk answered. “Because from what my father said, nobody has ever found a stimulant since the first generation.”

Nobody spoke after Leeteuk. Everyone seemed like having their own thoughts, probably different questions. And it was Siwon who broke the one minute silence.

“Hyung, I heard my parents talking about it once but it was a long time ago. They said it was some kind of a myth,” Siwon said, more like a question rather than a statement.

Everybody turned their eyes on Leeteuk again as he replied, “The Chinese has someone who possesses a rather rare ability; tracking a stimulant.” He sighed audibly, “My father said that if the Chinese are looking for it here, that means the thing actually exists and is here.”

“Do you think it’s Zhoumi?” Sungmin questioned.

Leeteuk shook his head lightly, “I don’t think so. Zhoumi isn’t a first born. I’m thinking about Hangeng, because he’s the only one who hasn’t shown his ability for all these years.”

Everybody went back into their own thoughts.  It was true, what Leeteuk said. The Chinese’s 10^th generation’s leader, Hangeng, hadn’t been showing his self up for a few years. And nobody really knew what his ability was.

The Chinese and the Koreans had had some gruesome rivalry decades ago. But they made some kind of an agreement; that is to stay away from each other’s territory unless for a certain matter. That was why the tension was always up whenever talking about the Chinese.

Siwon then decided to tell everyone about what happened a few nights ago. “Hyung, speaking of Zhoumi,” he began, “Two nights ago he attacked Fany at her house. I know it sounds weird but he actually bit her.”

Everyone almost gasped on the statement.

“Unnie, he bit you?” Yoona almost shrieked, finding it quite shocking.

Tiffany brought her arm at unconsciously to where the bite mark lingered. She had no intention in showing or telling everyone in the chamber about what happened to her, but she knew she needed to talk about it. “Yes. As a matter of fact I think he drank my blood a bit before I could throw him off of me.”

“I thought they were not into vampire bloods?” Yuri spoke.

“They weren’t,” Leeteuk said calmly. It was a bit obvious that Leeteuk was the only one who was not as surprised as anyone else in the room. “That’s because they are trying to find out who the stimulant is.”

Everyone eyed Leeteuk.

“Are you saying that it’s one of us?” Sungmin widened his eyes.

Leeteuk shook his head again, “If the Chinese think that the stimulant is here in our country then it really is here. Zhoumi also mentioned that it’s a she.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “My father said that a stimulant could be a human as well as a vampire.”

Shock, was evident on everyone’s face, excluding the oldest.

“So it could be one of us girls…?” Seohyun asked with a little bit of fear after a few moments.

Leeteuk nodded in answer.

“Hyung, what happened if it turned out to be one of them?” Kyuhyun asked, referring to the girls at the room who were apparently became tensed.

Leeteuk sighed again, “Everybody will want to drink your blood and they will look for you. And by everybody I mean vampires from around the world.”

Silence clouded the dimmed room. Everyone seemed to be digesting the information the leader just said. Leeteuk then said his final warning, “I think it’s best for us to expect another attack by the Chinese, assuming that they are still looking for the stimulant.”

Everybody in the room secretly agreed. It could be anyone. It could be anyone they knew. The only fact that slightly eased their mind was that there was a fifty percent chance it could be a human as well.

---00---

A few topics were brought that night, but nothing too important and urgent. But only one person caught Leeteuk’s attention. It was the all silent Jessica again. Jessica seemed to be spacing out almost the entire meeting. Leeteuk even wondered if she was listening when he was talking earlier, after all it’s her safety that he cared about.

When everybody finally decided to head their own homes, Leeteuk decided to confront the still looking down Jessica. “Sica are you alright?”

Jessica looked up to the older as she got up from her chair. She forced a smile to convince him she was okay, although she wasn’t sure if it came out good enough. She then fixed her things before walking out of the room. But she was stopped in the middle of the way by the blonde guy.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Leeteuk asked in a soft voice and grabbed Jessica’s arm to stop her from walking. “Do you happen to know where Heechul is? I just can’t seem to get a hold of him.”

Jessica was a bit confused for a while. She knew how close her boyfriend was with Leeteuk, and it just worried her even more knowing that the guy in front of her also didn’t know about where her boyfriend could be as well as her.

“I don’t know, oppa. I haven’t talked to him for three days,” Jessica shook her head. She then left the room afterwards.

a/n:

aaaa i'm sorry if this chap is boring....but it's necessary, i promise ^^

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