(Word count: 1398)

"Whe- Where am I?" Tao rubbed his eyes sleepily. The room was blurry and he could barely see. He sensed a presence behind him, and rolled over in the comfortable bed he was lying on to find Kris next to him. Kris smiled warmly at him, and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Who are you? Where am I?" Tao asked him, scared.

"My name is Kris." He answered. "Or Wu Fan. Either's fine." Then, noticing Tao's uncomfortable expression, he added "You do remember me, don't you?"

Zitao looked thoughtful for a moment, but then he looked up at Kris and smiled, "You saved me." Kris kissed him again, on the lips this time. Tao tried in vain to sit up, and seeing this, Wu Fan ordered him to stay put while he went to get something from the kitchen. When he returned, he was carrying a glass of the mysterious red liquid the others had all drank on the previous night. "What is it?" asked Tao.

"It will help, I promise."

Trusting him, Tao allowed Wu Fan to bring the glass up to his lips, and obediently swallowed the liquid. "It tastes like... blood?" Kris nodded. "Why are you feeding me blood?"

"You remember when I bit you? You're a vampire now, like me." Kris spoke softly, looking away from his face as he sat next to him on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry. It was the only way to keep you alive. I shouldn't have been so selfish..." He stopped abruptly when felt Tao's arms wrap around him, his delicate hand sliding up the front of Wu Fan's shirt. Kris tensed slightly - he didn't like the fact that Tao could get under his skin so easily. "You should rest."

"But gege~ I don't wanna~" Tao whined.

"Sleep." Kris commanded. Pouting, frustrated, Zitao complied.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Meanwhile, Xiumin, Luhan, and Chanyeol were staring with looks of eagerness and confusion at a human that Suho had deposited onto one of the sofas after they found him on their way home the night before. "Be careful not to wake him up!" Kris told them when he entered the living room, after Tao had gone back to sleep. "Chanyeol, I'm looking at you."

"How's your pet?" asked Chanyeol, earning him an angry look from Kris.

"He's not a pet. His name is Tao and he's one of us now."

D.O. strode into the room, with Suho by his side, and kneeled down next to the human. "Do we have a name yet?" 

Suho replied "Kai / Jongin."

"Why does everyone have 2 names around here!?" Chanyeol and Luhan jokingly yelled simultaneously, which woke Kai up.

"I told you to be quiet!" Kris exclaimed angrily.

While everyone else yelled at Chanyeol for waking up an innocent human (and completely forgetting that Luhan also woke him up) Kyungsoo seemed to be the only one who managed to remain calm. He greeted Kai with a welcoming smile and a glass of warm milk - which earned a reaction from Chanyeol, "What the Hell D.O.? He's not a kid!" As true as it may be, Jongin thankfully took the glass of milk. "As you can see," D.O. told him, "We're not exactly used to having humans in our house."

"Hu- Humans?" Kai stammered.

Chanyeol laughed at this; ammused by the fact that he apparently knew nothing of his own species. "Yes, humans. You know - 2 eyes, 2 legs, 2 arms, unbelievably slow and tell me I look like a llama."

"Actually, you do... a bit."

Chanyeol snorted.

"We're vampires." Suho explained calmly. "Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you."

Kyungsoo disappeared, then reappeared a few moments later with a bowl of freshly baked cookies. "I thought you might be hungry. I'm sorry we don't have any other food." He took a cookie and lifted it to Kai's mouth, who bit into it hungrily.

"That's ok." He paused while chewing. "The cookie's are good!"

D.O. reached for Jongin's hand, who allowed it to be held as Kyungsoo fed him another cookie. Suho took this as a signal to leave, and so led the others out of the room.

"I'm Kyungsoo, by the way." D.O. told Kai. "Well, people call me D.O., too."

"I'm Jongin - people call me Kai." Kai smiled and D.O. smiled back at him.

"The crazy guy who looks like a llama is Chanyeol, and the other guy who yelled about people having 2 names is Luhan. The tall guy is Kris (or Wu Fan - which ever you prefer). The cute chubby guy is Xiumin, also known as Minseok, and is Luhan's best friend. And the other one - the one who told you what we are - is Suho (well, his real name is Joonmyeon, but nobody calls him that anymore).

 - - - - - - - - - - - -

Knock, knock, knock. "Kris hyung, Kris hyung, Kris hyung." Chanyeol banged on the door to Kris' room - the dragon lair as he called it. Suddenly, the door flew open angrily, almost whacking Chanyeol on the head.  "What?" Kris snarled, irritated.

"I... er... ermm...." Chanyeol stuttered.

"Spit it out!"

"Well, D.O. has a pet, doesn't he?"

Wu Fan's expression changed slightly, as he became more intrigued by the conversation. "And?"

"That human - Kai." Chanyeol sighed, surprising Kris. "Kyungsoo never fed me cookies."

"You can't eat them."

"Oh yeah. You're right hyung." He laughed.

Wu Fan heard Tao wake up behind him, and - without another word - he closed the door (locking Chanyeol outside) and turned his attention back to his 'pet.'

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Seeing that his attempt to annoy Kris had failed, Park Chanyeol concluded that it was a much more felicitous use of his time to harass a more vulnerable soul - namely, Suho (he would have pestered D.O., but, even he was conscious of the fact that he would be in immense trouble.)

It is to be expected that the last clause of the antecedent sentence needs to be clarified. And so, here is my explanation: contrary to the folklore orientated around the parasitic beings, vampires are not soul-less beings. Many of them do indeed develop disturbed minds - be that as it may, it is not on account of them being 'soul-less'. According to ancient vampiric law, each vampire has half of a soul, and it is only by joining with another - in whatever form - whose broken soul locks into place with the jagged edges of his own, can a vampire ever become complete.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

It was half an hour after Suho had ushered everyone out of the living room to give Jongin and Kyungsoo some privacy, and D.O. was still silently observing Kai as he nibbled cutely on the last remaining cookie from the freshly baked batch he had been given. Kyungsoo reconnoitred his impeccable, unblemished skin - as white and as pristine as freshly laid snow, yet concurrently as warm as glowing embers. An exothermic reaction. Kai's eyes wandered aimlessly up to Kyungsoo's face, who (becoming cognizant of the fact that Jongin - as a human - needed to sleep) stood up on 2 tremorous legs, took Jongin's hand in his, and led him out of the room and into his own.

Kai laid his head on Kyungsoo's purple embroided pillow and closed his delicate eyes. Despite his inability to see, he sensed D.O.'s presence above him. Jongin sheepishly looked up at him through his long, thick eyelashes. Taking his place on the bed next to him, Kyungsoo intertwined his left leg with Kai's right. The vulnerable human nuzzled his hair, before resting his head in the crook of D,O.'s neck. All the while, Kyungsoo simply could not make his eyes leave the angelic face next to him. At that moment, all thoughts of cutthroat parasites and ambrosian blood oozing from the wounds of mortals were banished from D.O.'s mind - at that moment, he felt human again, truly human. "My consort," he whispered sweetly. He longed to touch his lavish, luxurious hair, radiant and sumptuous; to run his hands through it lovingly.

He yearned for Kai's touch. He yearned for Kai.