Sitting alone in the class, Taeyeon arrived much earlier than usual. With her bag still hanging on her shoulder, she leaned back on her chair with eyes locked to an uncertain spot ahead of her. When other students felt like spending the time waiting for the bell with their friends outside, Taeyeon preferred having her solitary moment in the class.

One would think that Taeyeon was only spacing out if they saw her, but in fact a lot was happening inside her mind. She didn’t even know where to begin with. Sunny, Jungsoo, her past, school stuff, basically everything. And those things just happened all at once, too much for the capacity of Taeyeon’s handling.

She realized the bell was going to ring any soon now, she honestly preferred that way. She just wanted to forget everything even for a few hours of boring lectures. She took a deep breath to adjust everything inside her, exhaled it slowly within seconds. Five more minutes, said the clock on the wall, and she just had to wait.

“Taeng?”

A very familiar voice was heard from her side. As she turned her head right, she couldn’t help but to let out an awkward smile. She didn’t mean it to be awkward, she just didn’t know how to react. Sunny returned the smile with a brighter and more sincere one, which made Taeyeon feel slightly horrible. She knew she shouldn’t feel so uncomfortable but she couldn’t help it, not after what happened the preceding night.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you feel scared of me or something,” Sunny confessed as she played with the cover of one of her books she was carrying. She understood what Taeyeon must’ve felt, she was ready for whatever compensation she was going to receive.

Taeyeon immediately felt worse, she didn’t mean for her friend to read her expression, she didn’t intend to be so obvious. To make up to it, she gave a much wider smile, simply denying what her friend just said. She then moved to the chair next to her before settling her books and suggested Sunny to take a seat on her former chair.

“Oddly, I’m not scared or anything,” she said as she tapped the chair for Sunny.

The blonde haired girl slowly and timidly rested her figure on the chair. The statement Taeyeon just made brought a sheep smile on Sunny’s already smiling face. The awkwardness in the atmosphere had probably decreased, but both of them were still careful on what to say.

Taeyeon was the first to be brave enough to face the other. “So,” she began, making Sunny turned to her. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, as if last night’s incident wasn’t extraordinary.

Sunny unintentionally let out a small chuckle mixed with a scoff as she looked away to her lap. “You’re so unpredictable you know that?” she said in more in a mocking way than a questioning way.

“Is that why you have been avoiding me?” Taeyeon asked curiously. She was smiling but her face was obviously looking for answers.

Sighing audibly, Sunny answered, “Yes, but not purposely.” She looked up to her friend once again with a more serious face now, “I know I have some explanation to do and I’m sorry that I lied to you last night.”

Taeyeon instinctively widened her eyes and squeezed her eyebrows, “You lied to me? About…?”

“Well, there was another reason as to why I looked like I was avoiding you,” she said, emphasizing the word ‘looked’. “It’s true that I have been hanging around with Yoona a lot lately, not only because she was Donghae oppa’s girlfriend, but also because she has been helping me a lot.”

Taeyeon didn’t say a word at all, wanting more explanation from her friend. And so she did, “You see, they were helping me to… learn to… sort of restrain myself from human,” she said with hesitation.

Taeyeon understood part of what Sunny was trying to convey, but there were a lot of questions forming in her head right now. She still didn’t get how Sunny became one of the vampires. She thought that vampires drink human blood, so why should Sunny need to restrain herself? Come to think again, Sungmin was the one who stopped Sunny from attacking her. Sungmin didn’t even seem to be affected by her blood last night.

But before Taeyeon could get all of the questions out of her head, the bell rang and interrupted the two girls’ conversation.

“Sungmin oppa’s going to pick me up later. Why don’t you come with us?” Sunny said soon as the bell stopped. Groups of students started entering their class with loud chanting. “I’m kind of new to this so I’m sure he will answer anything you want to know,” she smiled.

The thought of being in a car with two vampires would probably fright most people. But knowing that she could trust Sunny as much, Taeyeon was surely looking forward to it. “Sure,” she said before opening one of her books to a certain page.

“Good morning,” a cheery and joyful voice was heard. It was the first time Taeyeon had ever heard of it but she kind of figured who that voice belonged to. She lifted her face to get a look on the speaker and was greeted by a smiling face. The face was so bright that Taeyeon was sure she was about to get blind at any moment. Those eyes were just too adorable for Taeyeon’s liking.

“Good morning, Tiffany-ssi,” Sunny spoke.

Tiffany then handed a golden, rather thick, rectangular envelope to the staring Taeyeon, “Please be there, I’m looking forward to seeing you two,” she said before retreating to her seat.

Taeyeon instantly opened the envelope, which then Taeyeon learned was an invitation. It was a luxurious type of invitation. It was hard covered, golden glitter was still visible through the golden background. Looking from the curving and other ornaments that were embedded, Taeyeon needn’t to ask how much one invitation would cost. She then started reading the black carvings inside.

“Spring ball?” Taeyeon turned her head to face her friend, who seemed not interested at all by the invitation.

“It’s a seasonal ball that is hosted by one of The Great Ten. Though on summer it’s more like a party,” Sunny tried to explain as she started arranging her books on the table. “And I guess this time is hosted by Tiffany.”

Taeyeon checked on the invitation once again to make sure what kind of event it actually was. “Will you be there?” she asked.

“Of course I will,” Sunny said after lifting her eyes towards the reading Taeyeon. “Although, I think the invitation is for you, so you better come.”

---00---

The ride home wasn’t at all awkward or eerie. Taeyeon remembered how fierce Sungmin looked and was back at Sunny’s place; his eyes were all red and were looking at her as if he was about to prey on her at any time. But this time Sungmin was a lot talkative and a lot smiley, far better than what Taeyeon had expected. But somehow this kind of personality matched him. And it got her thinking; no wonder Sunny was head over heels for this guy.

She learned a lot from Sungmin’s story. Sungmin had told her that vampires do drink human blood, but their kind didn’t. They drank human blood occasionally when they felt their body weakened as it was the only source of nutrition for their dead body. Taeyeon found the word vegetarian suited their feeding way when she heard that they had been drinking animal blood for survival. Now she knew why Sunny was all being introvert all of a sudden, and even sometimes shivering when she was near people.

“It was hard at first,” Sunny explained, “I felt like everything inside me was burning and I kept wanting to jump on somebody and attack them right then and there. Thankfully Donghae oppa and Yoona had been helping me a lot by trying to give me less and less dose of human blood whenever I was having an intervention,”

“She’s doing a great job though,” Sungmin said with a proud smile, “It took me months to get used to being surrounded with humans.” Sungmin glanced at Sunny for a moment before pulling an unblemished smile on his face.

“I know this is a silly question, but…” Taeyeon hesitated for a bit. She knew nothing about vampire thing but this was definitely the one thing that came out to her head instantly, “How come you don’t get burned but sun?”

Sungmin laughed quietly on the question, finding it quite innocent for a college girl. “You watch too many movies, Taeyeon-ssi. We just simply don’t get burned,” he explained as he glanced towards the curious Taeyeon through the rearview mirror above his head. “That happened to the elders probably hundreds of years ago. But just like humans, we evolved too, and so we became immune to the sun ray. Because no matter what, we need to interact with humans too, right?”

Taeyeon nodded in understanding, but nonetheless, she asked yet another childish question, “And from what I see in the movies, you guys must’ve some kind of super power right?”

This time it was Sunny who was laughing, though a bit louder than Sungmin before. “This time you’re right, though,” she said.

It was now Sungmin’s turn again to speak, “We do have super powers. The common thing is mostly like what you’ve watched. Massive powers, lightning speed, night visions, and so on. We can also sense another vampire’s presence. And we can also erase and retrieve memories.”

The last statement reminded Taeyeon of Leeteuk in an instant.

“But only the first borns have other abilities. Like me, for example,” Sungmin continued.

“What kind of abilities do you have?” Taeyeon asked, half curious half still thinking about Leeteuk.

Sungmin’s smiled was visible to Taeyeon through the mirror. He didn’t answer at all, but what he did next caught Taeyeon’s attention fully. Sungmin slowly lifted both his hands from the steering wheel. For a moment Taeyeon thought she was hallucinating, or maybe Sungmin was just playing. But she almost gasped when suddenly the steering wheel spun itself without any contact from Sungmin’s hands, and surprisingly the car turned to the right direction.

“I can control things with my mind,” Sungmin said after putting his hands back down to the steering wheel.

The brown haired girl let out an audible awe as she was completely taken aback by the event. Taeyeon clearly was not registering everything well to her head. She then leaned back and fixed her eyes to the scenery outside the car, watching cars passed by in an almost light speed. Then one big question formed inside her head.

Slightly shifting in her position, she felt a bit uncomfortable asking the question. “Sungmin-ssi,” she called, which then answered by a hum immediately. “I know that Sunny’s memories were supposed to be erased for knowing the existence of your kind… so…” she paused for a while, making Sunny who had been sitting quietly in the front turned around to check on her and Sungmin peeked through the mirror again. “So why are you telling me all this?”

The question was simple enough. But Sungmin knew the answer were much more complicated than the question itself. He smiled after glancing through the mirror once again before focusing on the road. “I think Teuk hyung’s effort will go to waste if I try to make you forget everything again. He surely won’t be happy about it either,” he said with a meaningful smile.

Taeyeon on the other side was furrowing her brows upon hearing that familiar name. It was weird imagining Jungsoo being called by that name. Somehow in her ears, it just didn’t fit him at all, she preferred Jungsoo. But then again, she never really knew why Jungsoo was called by that name. “He changed his name,” Taeyeon muttered unconsciously, definitely to herself. But she said it loud enough for Sungmin to notice.

“He did,” Sungmin responded, making Taeyeon lifted her gaze to the mirror in a surprise. “Soon as you moved to Australia, her parents and the elders told him to change his name in case you ever came back here to Korea.”

Nobody said anything. Everyone in the car knew that it was kind of a taboo thing to discuss. But to Taeyeon, it sort of brought back some bad memories she was trying not to remember.

“He went through a lot to gain your memories back, Taeyeon-ssi,” Sungmin said after a few minutes of meaningful silence. “I can see that you mean that much to him,” he continued.

And from the rearview, Taeyeon could see how sincere Sungmin smiled.

She thought back to Leeteuk. If it was true what Sungmin said, that Leeteuk went through a lot to gain her memories back, why would he ever willing to do that? It was his father who wanted her away from Leeteuk’s life the first place, why would he go against his father? Was she really that mean much to him? She realized her old feelings towards Leeteuk years ago, but it was years ago, right now she wasn’t sure about it. It wasn’t that easy to go back to where they left off.

It had been almost a week since Heechul was last seen, and it worried Leeteuk so much. Nobody knew where he was, not even his parents, not even Kibum, not even Jessica. Heechul was normal to have his own getaway, but not without leaving everybody clueless like this. This was definitely the first time he went missing like this.

If anything that worried Leeteuk more, was the reckless side of Heechul that sometimes could drag him into some unnecessary troubles. The last time it happened, they had to use Siwon’s family name to deal with it, and it wasn’t really pretty. The elders were that close on banishing Heechul, and if it wasn’t for Leeteuk’s effort in convincing, Hecchul wouldn’t probably still alive. It most likely was the worst so Leeteuk wasn’t looking forward anything worse than that this time.

He heard the bell in front of the front door rang, and it made him wonder who could be visiting at one like this. He made it to the front and peeked through the hole above the door, and what he saw quite surprised him in some way.

“Jessica?” He said in a surprised tone as soon as he opened the door.

Jessica looked like she was on the verge to cry, her dark brown eyes were watery yet her face was showed that she was holding it with every might she had. She looked straight to Leeteuk and the older knew immediately something was not right. Jessica never looked like this, she barely cried and she never broke down.

“Do you want to come in?” Leeteuk offered.

Jessica shook her head timidly, and then she finally found her voice to speak, “Oppa, I need your help.” Leeteuk knew it, she almost sobbed.

---00---

Jessica refused to tell Leeteuk what was going on, she said that they had no time and it was about Heechul. Hearing that name, Leeteuk didn’t need any further explanation as he let himself be dragged by the other outside his house. Something was wrong with him, he could feel it, otherwise Jessica wouldn’t be so anxious like that.

They ran to the south for almost five minutes, picking the quiet roads to pass and even sometimes the forest, either way they couldn’t afford the risk to be seen. It was one in the morning but the streets of Seoul were still full of people and cars. Leeteuk didn’t know where they were going, he was merely following Jessica from behind and she looked like she was in a hurry.

After ten minutes more or so, Jessica finally stopped in a city. The place was quite familiar for Leeteuk but he couldn’t quite place it. Jessica was closing her eyes and Leeteuk knew she was sensing something. Leeteuk himself, too, sensed something wrong was going on.

“It’s weakening,” Jessica mumbled after opening her eyes back. The place was silent and no people were around, so Jessica’s low voice was completely heard by Leeteuk.

Jessica’s bond with Heechul was very strong, even stronger than Leeteuk’s, she could feel if something bad was happening to him. Despite the uneasiness Jessica was feeling the entire night, it was also abating, and it worried Jessica even more. It only happened whenever Heechul was dying, or he was trying to forget her. Both ideas just didn’t seem amusing for her at all.

“Is he anywhere near this city?” Leeteuk asked.

Jessica turned to Leeteuk. Even under the dark sky, Leeteuk could see clearly how pale Jessica’s face was, she was normally pale but this time was definitely unusual.

Jessica let out a shaky breath before speaking. “I had a vision. He was here in Jeonju,” she then rubbed her forehead with her right hand, feeling stressful and desperate. “But when we got here everything was gone. The feeling was somewhat fading.” She hid her face with her hand and unintentionally let out a sob. She didn’t want it to be loud, but it was no use because then she felt Leeteuk’s cold arms gently wrapping her trembling figure.

Leeteuk awkwardly patted Jessica’s back, trying to calm her for a bit. It was really weird being in that position; both of them were stiff. Nevertheless, Leeteuk tried his best to assure her that Heechul would be alright, eventhough he wasn’t so sure himself.

Slowly Jessica pulled her body from Leeteuk and wiped her tears in such a manner. “Can you please help me?” she lifted her face and looked to the leader.

Leeteuk understood very well what Jessica was asking. Leeteuk had a very strong sense, it could be very sensitive if he concentrated and it wasn’t hard for him to do. He nodded in respond and started walking again.

They walked in a normal pace because apparently certain people were still wandering in the center of the city. They didn’t talk at all; Leeteuk was concentrating on his feelings and so was Jessica.

Both of them unknowingly stopped in front of a club. It wasn’t a fancy club, both could tell; the line was as long as it was and Leeteuk saw men and women waiting to get in, all of them were in cheap apparels and cosmetics. The loud dub sound was piercing his ears and the dim lights from inside was visible from where he stood. He didn’t know why he stopped but his feet told him to, and the same went for Jessica. Before Leeteuk could even comprehend on anything he saw Jessica was already on her feet towards the entrance.

Jessica was desperate and she was anxious, she accidentally pushed the guards with her vampire strength to the nearest wall and managed to push herself inside the club, earning loud gasps from people in the line. A small, slender girl smashing two giant men to the wall effortlessly was not an everyday sight to see. Before the big muscled men could even stand on their feet again, Leeteuk threw a couple won to their faces, enough for them to stay shut. A little threat could always be helpful.

Leeteuk went inside and felt his lungs stuffed with smokes and alcohol scents almost in an instant. Thankfully he didn’t have a hard time finding his way through the dark and crowded place. Some girls tried to kiss and drag him to the dance floor but he managed to avoid them. He went to the bar and asked the bartender about a mahogany brown haired girl passing by and the bartender pointed his finger to a certain direction.

He kept on walking and occasionally half running whenever he could; the crowd really was not helping. Shortly, he reached a dark and small hallway with an opened door at the end of it. He knew it. He ran towards the door and threw himself outside the club. The air and atmosphere was such a contrast compared with the air inside and he felt as if a big lump in his chest was elevated. He looked sideways in order to find Jessica. And there she was, standing at the end of the alley staring into something.

“Sica,” Leeteuk called as he half ran to where Jessica stood. He was about to ask what happened but the person stood in front of him prevented him from doing so.

Heechul was looking back at them, but his eyes then fixed to Jessica’s being. His lips were stained with red substance, but when Leeteuk looked back to Heechul’s eyes, they weren’t red anymore. Leeteuk’s gaze fell down immediately to a limb sprawling down against the wall. It was a female and Leeteuk knew it was lifeless. But what made him squirm was that the woman was half , wearing only her upper underwear and a really short mini skirt, too short for her to cover her backside.

Leeteuk was still trying to register everything but suddenly he was slightly pushed by the shoulder when a wind blew from his side. Then Jessica was gone. And only after a second, Heechul was also gone from the sight. Then he decided that it was no longer his business to get his hands on.

He approached the dead body and squatted before it. He observed the face; she wasn’t really that pretty, far less prettier than Jessica and Leeteuk concluded that she was probably a e. He looked to the side of her neck and there he saw the bite mark that was definitely made by his friends. This was definitely not Heechul. He would never lower himself like this, not when he already had Jessica. He knew how much Heechul loved her to death.

He searched around the alley and immediately found a piece of clothing near the dumpster. He stood up and took the clothes. He properly covered the half- woman with it and sighed to himself. He couldn’t just leave her like that, he couldn’t let anybody discover her. It was his job to dispose the dead body.

a/n:

oh crap...what is this....? T__T

I'm quite looking forward to the ball, don't you? hihi

still, don't hesitate to comment, please ^^