Another glorious chapter from Me. I hope once again this one doesn't disapoint. It's finals week so starting next monday I'll be able to write a lot more because there won't be anymore studying for a whole month.

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CHAPTER 3

NIGHTMARE

  Minho didn’t know what possessed him to escape to the school’s rooftop, but he had been feeling uneasy since his run-in with Kevin. There had been an aura surrounding him, but it wasn’t the kind of feeling Minho usually got from Darklings. He carried a smell that was of sweet pomegranate and vanilla. Almost sweet enough to tempt him. He wouldn’t say he was attracted to him; he had only been curious what the blood of an unknown enemy would taste like. He couldn’t help but to laugh a bit when he thought that it’d be so repulsive that not any vampire would want to drink it.

  “Why is it that whenever you’re feeling down you never come looking for me?” He cursed for a moment when he turned around and found his sister sitting on the roof bench wearing his jacket. She had gone AWOL since their battle and he didn’t think she’d ever show up again. But later he came to find out that she had been spending a month or two in the Alps with an old friend. Minho of course had his suspicions. She wasn’t one to quickly fall in love. “Jonghyun told me about this mysterious kid whose giving you trouble. Do you need me to teach him a lesson? I haven’t fed for a couple of weeks, I could use the snack.”

  “I don’t need you to deal with my problems for me.” Minho sat beside her and peeled his jacket off of her.

  She fixed her hair that had gotten disheveled. “I wouldn’t be your big sister if I don’t bully your bullies. Are you worried?”

  “What would I have to worry about?”

  “There are things going down in our world. Word has spread of the escape of the Darklings and there have been rumors that they weren’t the only ones that found their out of The Cage.” She turned to Minho and held out a dagger to him. There was an infinity symbol etched into the handle, the sign of their world. “It’s laced with gypsy blood. Please be aware of those around you. Darklings are very skilled in hiding.”

  He unsheathed the dagger and looked carefully. The most amazing thing of Gypsy blood was that it was nearly undetectable. He knew, as long as he kept it sheathed until the very moment he was going to use it, it would be a valuable weapon.

  Minho slipped the dagger onto his arm and stood up, slipping into his jacket. “I hope you know you’re not fooling anyone. Mom and dad are going to want you to bring this friend of yours home.”

  He laughed. It was the only kind of sincere laugh between siblings, not one that had to be forced and left.

#

  Jonghyun didn’t care for girls hanging all over him, but he couldn’t very much turn away his college’s beauty. She’d been working all semester to get his attention, but he didn’t know how to break it to her that he wasn’t interested.

  She clutched onto his leather jacket, pulling at her with her nails. He had every thought to yell at her that she was wrinkling it, but he bit his tongue as quick as the thought came to him.

  “Hyung!” He turned to expect to find Minho, but had only seen that boy who had been invading his thoughts all day.

  “Is that your brother? He’s so cute.”

  “He must need something. How ‘bout I catch up with you later?”

  “Okay.” He’d felt her against his arm when she leaned in to kiss his cheek. She had already declared them a couple and shooed away any girl who made a pass at him. But he only found her suffocating and was relieved when he’d watched her sway away.

  “Hyung? Last time I checked we’d only met.” Jonghyun turned and stopped only long enough to say. “Go back to school.”

  “Why is it that you’ve been single for almost fifty years?”

  Jonghyun stopped and ran to Kevin, pinning him against the wall by hid neck. “What are you?” He sniffed Kevin, his nose running along his smooth neck, almost arousing him. “You’re not human. That much I know.”

  His whispered words sent the sweetest chill down Kevin’s spine, but he knew he had to be careful. Was he really incapable of getting close to him without rehashing what he once felt? Would he be able to cross paths with Jonghyun and act as total strangers?

  When he peeled Jonghyun’s hand off his neck, he knew he had made his choice. He’d remembered there times together, and although they were moments he’d never trade in, that time was over and now they were enemies.

  “I know a lot more than I lead on.” Kevin backed away from Jonghyun. The more space the better. “I know that both your brother and sister decided to turn at eighteen to preserve their youth, but you turned at twenty. Why?”

  “I was waiting for someone that I knew would never come. Is that what you wanted to hear?” He stood behind Kevin his chest hard against his back. “If you ever threaten my brother again, I can’t promise that I won’t tear you apart. Human or not.”

  He’d always admired his confidence, but there was no place for it now.

#

  Taemin’s eyes fluttered close as he nestled on the floor of the school library. For a while now it was the only place where he’d felt rest was possible. His mother constantly checked up on him and having his cousin around left no room for alone time with Minho let alone for himself.

  He thought he would engulf himself in a book or two and found himself falling sleep.

  It was cold and his hair had been wet from the snow. There was a hand intertwined with his. His smile was inevitable, but disappeared when the person standing by him was his cousin and not Minho. His finger nails were claw sharp and long, his teeth were like his when he was hungry—sharp fangs. But what scared him the most that knocked him out of his dream was Minho running to him his body bursting out in flames with every step he took.

  He begged for him to stop. Anything to keep from losing him, but it was like Minho couldn’t hear him. He tried to run to him, but Kevin’s claws kept puncturing his skin rendering him frozen. There was a thick cloud of smoke that trailed after Minho and Taemin was forced to watch.

  Minho’s scream, piercing and terrifying broke Taemin down. He never thought to ask once who Kevin was. Why was he around? And could it actually happen? Could Kevin kill Minho?

  Taemin didn’t know, but his heart, not so fragile broke easily.