The werewolf groaned in pain. A sword was stuck to his chest. It was made of pure silver and his flesh burned upon contact with the sharp material. He let out a cry of pain before he disintegrated and turned to dust. The sword’s owner was standing nearby clutching her shoulder which had been bleeding for awhile. Her clothes were stained with blood – her own blood.

She had been hit a couple of times. She calculated that her floating ribs were broken and they were dangerously close to her vital organs. Shrugging off the thoughts of internal bleeding, she limped towards the dusty ground to collect her sword.

The cold evening breeze passed through her, blowing the dust away. She caught a scent familiar to her from one of the rooftops of the city. Sheathing her sword and picking up her long ebony coat, Taeyeon set her sights on the roof of the building. With her invisible wings, she flew and perched herself on the roof deck with the grace of a swan, her eyes skimming for the familiar person.

The breeze brought in the scent again and Taeyeon, now sure of the person’s direction, took flight. Her speed was so fast that a normal person could barely catch a glance of her approaching. She landed on a different roof deck of a building and there she found an injured young woman lying unconscious against the concrete railing.

Judging from the even breaths that Jessica was taking, Taeyeon concluded that she was sleeping despite her heavily battered body.

“Hey…” Taeyeon called out as she stood in front of the sleeping girl. Her voice was soft, casual, and gentle.

Hearing the familiar voice, Jessica opened her eyes to see her twin standing before her. She slowly took in the sight of Taeyeon, bruised and injured like she was.

“Hey…” Jessica meekly replied. “How’s your hunt?”

“It was fine, I guess. I had just killed a werewolf.”

“Oh…Nice…”

“Are you all right?” Taeyeon was concerned at the extent of her twin’s injuries. Jessica’s abdomen had horizontal slash marks and they were still opened although they had stopped bleeding since the vampire’s healing process had been slowly taking its course. Her arms had scratches and her right arm was broken. It was lying limp on the vampire’s side. Taeyeon’s eyes fell on her sister’s face. Jessica’s forehead had a cut and the left side of her face was ridden with blood. Taeyeon hypothesized that she had been hit by something on the head.

Jessica just shrugged. “Yeah…”

“You don’t look like you are…”

“Well…” Jessica sheepishly smiled. “I just need a little blood, that’s all…”

There was no evidence of pain in her expression. It was as if Jessica had grown accustomed to the pain caused by her grave wounds.

“Where are you staying?”

“Here… I always stay on the rooftops for the night…”

“That’s dangerous! What if someone finds you here?”

“I flee.”

“You can’t do that forever, Jessica… You’ve just been gravely injured by whatever you were fighting out there and if someone else evil finds you like this here, you’ll be dead.”

Jessica chuckled at Taeyeon’s banter. “Fate leads me wherever it wants me to go… If I die, just be there for my sister…”

“Enough pep talk. Let’s get you to my place and have those wounds healed…”

Without another word, Taeyeon carefully lifted Jessica in her arms and soon enough, they took off into the night with lightning speed. Jessica held her breath as they flew from roof to roof. She held her breath for two reasons: one of them being the fact that she was scared of the heights and second would be the fact that she would be tempted to bite Taeyeon should she immerse herself in the half angel’s ethereal scent.
 

***

Eyes stare at the figure who owned the room. They have arrived at the half angel’s humble home. “You’re taking me in at your own risk? You do know that I’m thirsty, don’t you?”

The figure nodded. “You won’t drink from me anyway…” Taeyeon said as she headed towards the kitchen where the fridge laid. Jessica had been made comfortable on her couch. The half vampire stared at the half angel as the divine being rummaged through the fridge.

A blood pack caught Jessica’s eyes as Taeyeon headed towards her with the crimson filled container in her hand. Taeyeon handed it to the crippled girl who was sitting on the couch.

“Drink up. It’s mine…” Taeyeon said. 

Jessica stared at her confused as she took the blood pack from Taeyeon with her unaffected hand. “Yours? What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m half an angel, remember?”

Jessica nodded giving Taeyeon a chance to continue.

“You have heard stories from our grandparents that the divine families living in this world are either half divine or fully divine. Take your family for example…”

“The Jungs? You’re a part of it…”

“Yes… but they handed me over to the Kim family when we were born… Only our grandparents had the nerve to tell us later…”

Jessica agreed despite the fact that their wounds were still on the verge of healing and the stinging pain of her wounds were still lingering, she wanted to know. “Go on…”

“The Jungs were said to be divided between the divine’s direct descendants and the indirect ones. You and I are full direct descendants. Krystal was an indirect one judging from the fact that she still remains human… It seems we somehow inherited all the divine genes to ourselves before she had been conceived…”

“I’m confused…”

“We’re full blooded angels, Sooyeon. We become full-fledged divine beings when we reach close to adulthood. In your case though…” Taeyeon was hesitant to bring up Jessica’s dark past as she had been told of her twin’s ordeal after interrogating one of the vampires present during that event.

“I was turned into a vampire when I was sixteen…when I was supposed to become a full-fledged angel… It was a pact I made with the light and darkness when our family was handed over to die…” Jessica continued for Taeyeon knowing that the angel cared for her wellbeing, hence Taeyeon’s hesitance in bringing up the sensitive topic.

“And that’s the reason why they couldn’t touch Krystal as of the moment… She’s still human. You made them swear an unbreakable oath that they won’t touch your…I mean, our… sister for as long as she’s on light’s side or she’s human in exchange for YOU becoming one of them…” Taeyeon said hinting the dark forces before noticing that the blood pack in Jessica’s hand remained unconsumed. “Hey, drink up the blood before it spoils.”

Jessica stared at the blood pack for a moment before opening it and drinking its contents. Her eyes landed back on Taeyeon after she took an ample amount of the crimson liquid.

“But that doesn’t explain why you have this in your fridge yet…” Jessica said raising the half-filled blood pack in front of her. Taeyeon limped towards her and took a seat beside her.

“I’m a fully fledged angel. I have succeeded in becoming one. To look human, I needed to stay human so I drink human blood like you…”

Jessica’s eyes widened upon Taeyeon’s revelation. “You drink human blood to stay human?! I thought only vampires do that…although vampires still look a little inhuman with my exception…”

Taeyeon chuckled at Jessica’s last words. “Yes, I drink human blood for me to remain human. I don’t want people to mistake me for some divine being and I want to hide my identity as one of the last members of the esteemed Jung family. Heaven had handed over our family as a sacrifice in exchange for the massacre done on the dark army. It was to balance the world’s good and evil.”

“It’s full of crap. This whole thing is stupid!” Jessica was not ashamed to express her discontent on the subject. “Because of that stupid decree, our family suffered! Krystal had to suffer… And we… were separated as soon as we were born…”

“I’m sorry… It’s true, the world is unfair… We’re always at war.”

Jessica gave her twin a bitter smile. “At least you’re here to set some things straight, Taeyeon. You’ve been helping Krystal out a lot…”

“It was my promise to keep. Besides, I hadn’t been by her side for too long. I guess I’m taking this chance to pay you both back for the time lost. Oh, you’ll stay here for as long as you want, Sooyeon.”

Jessica finished her blood pack before she gave her twin a thankful smile. “I’m sorry for being a burden and thank you, Taeyeon. I’m glad you found me.”

Taeyeon felt herself being healed by her twin’s presence. Her wounds had closed up as they held their conversation. It was strange but Jessica’s presence seemed to bring out the best in her.

“You’re always welcome, Sooyeon.”
 

***

Taeyeon was now in her night clothes ready to sleep. She was waiting for her twin to finish her bath before they both turn in for the night. Her eyes landed on the door opening to reveal her own replica exit the bathroom with only a towel covering her figure. Jessica proceeded to the chair where Taeyeon had prepared a change of clothes for her.

The sight of Jessica’s back caught Taeyeon’s attention and curiosity. Without much of a sound, Taeyeon slowly came closer to the girl whose back was turned to her. Lifting her finger, Taeyeon slowly traced the figure drawn on her vampire twin’s skin. Jessica’s body tensed upon feeling her sister’s touch.

  Taeyeon brought her hand up on her twin’s shoulder after tracing the figure across her sister’s back. Jessica placed her own hand on her sister’s as she tried to hold back the tears. The figure that Taeyeon had just traced was a scar she bore when she was turned. It was her mark indicating to the world that she was now part of the dark side. It brought back the memories of that fateful night. To her surprise, she felt herself in someone’s embrace. She closed her eyes and sobbed silently upon feeling the warmth of the person behind her.

“Shh… Let it all out…” was the whisper of her angelic twin.

She soon forgot that she had nothing else but a towel to cover herself. She forgot that she was practically in Taeyeon’s embrace, but it was all disregarded as she turned to face her consolation and sobbed right into the girl’s shoulder. She was supposed to be dark, unmoved, evil, and emotionless but she was part human. She was part divine. And she was part vampire. She was caught in the middle of this war – a war that was kept from her dongsaeng who was too innocent of everything that transpired except for that fateful night when the family was erased from the earth save for her, Taeyeon, and Krystal.

And now, here she was in another sister’s refuge clinging to the last piece of her hope. Taeyeon. They were twins indeed. The similarities to how their names both sounded to other people’s ears. It wasn’t pure coincidence; it was fate. And for once, Jessica was thankful at what fate had brought to her.

“Taeyeon… Please… Let’s just stay this way for awhile…” Jessica mumbled amidst her sobs as she lost her strength to stand prompting her twin to lift her up. Taeyeon rubbed her back to comfort her as she released all the emotions that she had failed to unleash on that fateful night. It had somehow built up until the time came for her to vent them – now was that time.

It’s time for her catharsis. It’s time for her to express her woes, fears, and frustrations to the world despite the fact that only one person will know what she was going through. Only one person will truly feel and see her suffering. Kim Taeyeon. She will be the only one who will learn of the truth behind the dark secrets that she bottled up inside her soul. 

“Don’t leave anything pent up, Sooyeon… I’m here…” Taeyeon cooed as she tightened her embrace on her twin. Now, the sobs grew louder. Jessica had let it all out until she was reduced to her weakest state. Unbeknownst to her, Taeyeon had brought them both hovering over the bed with her invisible wings. Her angelic sister gently sat them both down on the soft mattress as Jessica continued to cry on Taeyeon’s shoulder.

Taeyeon noticed her shirt getting wet from all of her sister’s tears but she just allowed her twin to freely express herself and her regrets. Regret. Jessica had a lot of regrets. She had done something regretful in order to keep her own dongsaeng safe from the insane schemes of the two constantly fighting forces that run this world.

As the angel rubbed the vampire’s back, she felt scars at different stages of healing as she did so. Taeyeon guessed that those almost permanent ones have been made by the creatures who turned Jessica. She knew that only a vampire could do that damage to the half-vampire’s body. 

“Sooyeon…” Taeyeon whispered. “How many times have you encountered ‘them’?”

A hand slid over Taeyeon’s waist while Jessica’s free one rested on the angel’s shoulder. Her sobs stopped. “Countless of times…” Jessica mused softly as she felt the warmth of the other person.

Jessica’s reply sounded too casual for Taeyeon’s liking. The older of the twins knew how ruthless those creatures of the dark could be. A sigh escaped Taeyeon’s lips as she rested her head on her sister’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry…” Taeyeon’s grip on Jessica tightened as she felt sorrowful of her sister’s sad fate. The angel inhaled Jessica’s scent as she apologized.

Silence took over the two figures for a moment until one of them mustered to break the deafening stillness inside the room.

“It’s all right. We cannot change the past. What’s done was done.” Jessica whispered.
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