He was simply making his rounds in the human world. It’d been a month since he surfaced back from the demon realm and he was starving for a soul, one that wasn’t already marked as his own. So his current meal was one of the homeless people that he’d found in the alleys in the rundown part of the city. He’d preferred taking another criminal off the streets but the growl in his stomach kept him from waiting, but if he did come across one on his way around the city, he wouldn’t hesitate to fall victim to gluttony.

He wondered about the emptying streets, the lights in the stores were slowly shutting off one by one and he knew it was edging around midnight. He sat down on one of the benches outside a closed coffee shop and stared up at the sky. Dark gray clouds had already taken over the atmosphere, the threat of a storm or blizzard was coming as the winds slowly picked up. He leaned back and waited for it, the sound of the wind blowing against the buildings sounded almost like a lonesome calling. One he knew all too well.

Glancing at the empty space beside him on the bench, he remembered what it was like to have someone sitting there, occupying it so many years ago, but that person was gone. Fate had different plans for them, plans that involved him being forgotten and that person beginning a new life. He sighed to himself while the first few white flakes started falling from the sky.

So, it’s going to be a little snow storm, he thought.

But as the winds picked up again, something else caught his attention. A scent he’d know anywhere, it was faint, maybe a few weeks old, but it was there in the wind. An angel’s blood. He frowned in confusion as he sniffed the air, what would be the cause of that filling the air? He stood up and followed the scent, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, all the while, his mouth watered at the smell.  

He searched down the streets until it led him to an alleyway. It was dimly lit by the streetlights but something silver caught his attention. Walking over to it, he picked up the item, it was cold to the touch due to the coldness of winter but it quickly warmed up due to his touch, a faint glow began to emit from it: an angel’s dagger. This caused his curiosity to heighten, because no angel could survive without their weapon by their side, and surely, no angel could simply lose the weapon, it was forged from part of their soul, so it’d be like they lost a part of themselves if it was lost.

Placing the dagger inside his coat just in case he came across the owner, he sniffed the air again, the scent was stronger here than anywhere else. Due to his ability of being able to see in all darkness, he spotted a dark blotch splattered on the wall of alley. He stepped closer, his hand reaching out and swiping at the dark spot. It was dry and chipping off but when he brought his hand up to his nose, he’d found the source of the scent. Although it was tempting to the blood off his hands, even if it was just dried out flakes of blood, he resisted.

He’d made a promise a long time ago to not partake in those types of pleasures and he wasn’t going to fall back today.

“Smells amazing, doesn’t it, demon?” The voice caught him off guard, but he blamed the scent for having him so enticed.

He looked up to see two glowing red eyes, he knew who it was because the voice and the area of city told him; it was the vampire Chungho. He’d had dealings with the vampire and its partner before, they were on good terms but he still didn’t care for their company. Not many demons did like the company of vampires, unless they were making deals or doing missions, and even then, they didn’t like relying on the humans-made-immortal.

“Chungho, it’s been awhile,” he bowed.

“It certainly has, Yesung. Do you need any help on some missions?”

Yesung shook his head, a small laugh escaping his lips, “Not today, just out enjoying the storm.”

“Ah, I am as well, it’s going to get rough tomorrow night. You should come back then; there should be plenty of souls to feed off of.”

“I may take you up on that suggestion,” he turned back to the spot on the wall. “Do you, perhaps, know the whereabouts of the owner of this blood?”

Chungho laughed, a grin spreading across his face, “Yeah, would you like to see him? Since we’re such good friends, I’ll even let you have a taste of him.”

Yesung chuckled, “How could I refuse such an offer? When did you catch him? I’m surprised he’s not dead yet.”

“Come along then,” Yesung followed after the vampire through the dark alley, “It was about a month ago when we caught him, I had plans of him dry, but Seunghun came up with the suggestion of keeping him around. Best decision I ever made.” Chungho nearly moaned at the thought of the angel’s blood on his tongue.

Yesung was surprised at the information. The angel had managed to survive a month in the hands of the two blood-thirstiest vampires he knew of? “Seunghun always did come up with great suggestions. You’re lucky to have a partner like him.”

Chungho’s grin gleamed in the streetlight as they headed towards the lair. “Aren’t I though? Seunghun will be happy to see you when we get there, he’s been itching for another mission for a few years now, and we both know you select us for the best ones. You sure you don’t need us for anything though?”

“Not right now, but I’ll let you guys know the minute I have another one. And besides, it takes the best to do the best missions,” Yesung replied, although he felt like gagging at the thought of being stuck with the two going on any mission. The two were more like headaches that wouldn’t go away, but Yesung would admit that they knew how to fight.

The two finally reached a warehouse that looked to be rundown, some of the windows were busted out and the door hinge looked like it was about to break at any moment. Chungho threw Yesung a slight smile at the sight of his current home, “It’s a bit different from the place we had last time, but it’s only to keep out unwanted visitors.”

Yesung nodded in understanding as they both entered the building, “It’s alright; a mansion would attract more attention.”

“Even after spreading ghost stories about it, humans still wanted to visit it,” Chungho replied, the two were now in almost complete darkness in the place, the only light coming from the windows were from the distant streetlights. “At least this place looks like something a homeless person would stay in. Plus, it’s mine and Seunghun’s lucky day when one of the homeless fools wander in for shelter.”

“That’s humans for you, and I guess that’s a good thing about this place then. Free meals coming to you.”

“Yeah, but sadly, it’s only every once in awhile. I guess the others took notice that once someone enters, they don’t come back out.” Chungho led Yesung further into the building, still in darkness, then they came to a locked door, an inside light shone around the edges. He pulled out a key, unlocked it, and opened it.

Inside was completely different from the outside of the warehouse. It looked like an elegant bedroom. Two coffins were laid in a corner, dirt sprinkled around them both, a blood red carpet was rolled out covering the concrete of the warehouse, large thick red curtains covered any windows in the room, and a desk with several books and a laptop sat not too far from the coffins. Yesung had to give the two credit, they had the perfect hiding place while still living comfortably.

But his gaze went from the decorations of the room towards the movement on the other side of the room. The scent filling the air almost intoxicated him, and he saw why. Chained up to the wall and slumped forward was a brown haired man with a soft glow barely emitting from him. The angel. His white suit was torn and tattered, basically rags now, and dried blood littered several places. The angel’s face and body was covered with cuts, bite marks, and bruises.

The thing that caught Yesung off-guard was the tears that flowed down the angel’s cheeks as he pleaded for help. His voice was broken, barely a whisper, but filled with so much pain. It made something inside Yesung twist and turn, if he had a heart, he would’ve said that it twisted his heart but that organ had been disposed of centuries ago.

“Looks like Seunghun couldn’t help himself again,” the chuckling Chungho snapped Yesung out of his thoughts.

It was then that Yesung noticed the vampire crouched down on the angel’s lap, lapping up the blood from the angel’s wrist.

--

Kyuhyun couldn’t keep up with the days anymore, he knew it had to be over a month since he was chained up in the building and fed off of by the two vampires. He felt too weak to even think most of the time, the only words he seemed to know anymore was ‘no’ or ‘please stop’ but they went ignored most of the time, and then other times, he’d get hit for saying anything.

When the two finally stopped and retired to their coffins once sunlight arose, and with what consciousness he could regain, he muttered prayers. Surely one of his brothers would hear him calling for help, surely one of them would answer, and surely, one of them would come rescue him from this hell. But every night when the coffin lids were pushed open, he knew that it was just another prayer gone unanswered as he braced himself for more cuts and bite marks.

But one night, the vampire that Kyuhyun learnt was Chungho didn’t join the other in feeding off him once he awoke. Instead the fiend left without sparing a glance at the angel. Kyuhyun wasn’t able to wonder where the vampire was off to when the other had already latched himself onto Kyuhyun’s throat. What pained him most was the fact that they’d drain him to the brink of death and then wait until he regained some of his blood and then they’d start all over again. It was a never-ending cycle.

Seunghun stopped feeding for a little while in favor of looking up something on the laptop, and in that time, Kyuhyun regained a little bit of strength back in his hands. Instead of just twitching now, he could raise it slightly, and it now laid on top his thigh. He learnt that that was a mistake when the vampire saw it because he started towards him and sat down on his lap as he grasped the hand that had gained strength and brought the wrist up to his lips.

“We can’t have your healing getting ahead of us, now can we? I intend to keep you here for awhile,” with a grin, his pearly white canines sank into Kyuhyun’s wrist causing him to gasp out in pain.

He whimpered out pleas of ‘stop’ until he felt too weak, and sunk back, letting the vampire take what he wanted. Tears falling again. He’d never been one to shed tears for almost anything, angels weren’t supposed to cry, they usually had no reason to, but who wouldn’t in a situation like this? Angel or not.

The sounds of a door closing had Kyuhyun’s eyes opening and then widening when he saw Chungho but he was with another man. From the color of their eyes, he could tell the man was another demon, but instead of looking at Kyuhyun with bloodlust, he found pity in those black glowing orbs. Chungho said something that Kyuhyun couldn’t hear but it snapped the demon out of his thoughts, the pity fading from his eyes as he turned his attention back to Kyuhyun and the vampire that was still on his lap. Apparently he was too consumed with his thirst to notice their arrival.

Kyuhyun didn’t realize it at first until he saw them coming over to them, but he was calling for help from the demon. Chungho pulled out a knife, one that the angel was all too familiar with and his pleading silenced.

“I’ve got the little angel trained already. A month and he already knows when to shut it. I would’ve thought it’d taken longer for him to learn, would’ve been more fun then,” he chuckled, before nudging Seunghun with his boot. “Yah! Seunghun! Look who decided to pay us a visit.”

The vampire dropped the angel’s wrist and looked back, grinning when he saw who it was and springing up to latch himself onto the demon in a hug. “Yesung! Long time no see!”

The demon, Yesung, tried not to cringe as he returned the hug, a thin smile taking his lips, “You too, Seunghun, sorry to interrupt your feeding.”

Seunghun pulled back, “No worries, I was just going back for seconds since it seems to be healing a little bit faster now. What brings you here?”

Chungho spoke up before Yesung could, “I told him about the little angel and offered him a taste.”

Seunghun’s eyes widened as he gasped, “Chungho, you could’ve offered him more than that. Yesung’s done a lot for us.”

Kyuhyun watched as the two vampires talked amongst themselves, the demon seemed to have backed out of the conversation. He still looked uncomfortable around the vampires, Kyuhyun wondered why, weren’t demons and vampires the same? Weren’t they all evil fiends that only wanted to hurt, torture, and kill people? From the way Seunghun and Chungho were talking, it was apparent that the demon was just there to feed off his blood too. He silently prayed for a miracle while he braced himself for the demon to drink from him as well.

--

Yesung scratched the back of his head and stepped back to avoid the conversation between the two vampires, he hadn’t done much for them except save their asses a few times on the missions and offer them a few souls in return for their hard work, but he wasn’t going to say anything. Instead his gaze fell on the angel who was looking up at him with fear in his dark brown eyes; they still held a soft glow to them despite what he’s been through. He was confused when the urge to rip the chains off the angel and take him close and dare anyone to lay a hand on him came over him when his eyes connected with the angel’s, but he resisted. It must’ve been the intoxicating scent making him think crazy things.

“I think he’s drunk on the little angel’s scent, I wouldn’t blame him. Yesung?” Chungo’s voice drew him out of his thoughts.

He shook his head and looked over at the vampire, “What?”

Seunghun laughed, “I was telling Chungho that if you’d like, after you taste it, of course, if you’d like to have it? I’d hate to part with it but as a token of our gratitude to you, would you like having it?”

Yesung was shocked by that offer. He never would’ve guessed the two vampires would give up something as valuable as an angel, especially when they couldn’t seem to go an hour without biting into the angelic being. He noticed the angel’s eyes widened when he’d heard their offer, too. To Yesung, it looked like the angel didn’t know whether to be grateful or fear for his life.

“You’re really offering him to me?” He couldn’t hide the disbelief in his voice.

Chungho nodded, “Why not, although I wouldn’t mind a trade. A hundred souls for him, good souls though.” He crouched down in beside the angel and grasped the angel’s chin, turning his face towards him.

“Chungho, have you ever known Yesung to not have good souls?” Seunghun his lips in anticipation, turning his attention to Yesung, “As much as I love the angel’s blood, I haven’t had a soul since the last mission you sent us out on and that was almost a century ago. I miss the taste.”

Yesung shrugged, he couldn’t see any reason to disagree with that trade. A hundred souls were easy pickings for him. “Alright, it’s a deal.” He snapped his fingers and a sheet of parchment appeared, their agreement already written, he was a demon after all, contacts and deals were his specialty. “Sign on the bottom line in both of your bloods like usual, and I’ll give you the souls.”

Seunghun grinned and took the parchment over to the desk, pricking his finger to sign; Chungho went ahead and sliced the angel’s cheek so Yesung could have a taste of his new possession before he joined Seunghun. The angel winced at the pain and tried moving further into the wall to get away from Yesung. The scent of the blood filling the air had Yesung’s mouth watering, he bent down, his hand cupping the angel’s other cheek as he leaned forward to inhale the aroma of the blood.

He knew that he promised that he wouldn’t taste another angel’s blood but in order to keep the vampires off his case, he softly kissed the cut, the small amount off his lips, an involuntary moan slipping from his lips at the taste. He quickly stopped himself from away the rest of the blood on the cut and instead settled with swiping his thumb over the cut, collecting the blood and then he wiping it on the remains of the angel’s suit. It looked like he’d the cut clean. When he pulled back he saw the confusion in the angel’s eyes to which he simply smiled softly.

“All done, Yesung,” Seunghun brought the parchment over, “You can take him tonight and bring the souls sometime tomorrow. Since the blizzard is coming, we won’t have to worry about the sunlight bothering us then.”

“Alright, I’ll send over one of my servants with the souls,” Yesung said as he stood up and took back the parchment. He glanced over the signatures, both were there, he folded it and placed it inside his coat. “I think that was a fair trade,” he added casually, “it’s been ages since I’ve had angel blood and you two haven’t had a soul in awhile either, we both get what we’ve missed.”

“Certainly, although it seems unfair on your part, you only get one little angel, we get a hundred souls,” Chungho replied, unchaining the angel from the wall and yanking him up to stand on wobbly and weak legs.

“I may just take a little from him and keep him around for awhile like you two were planning, just make sure you don’t indulge too much on the large amount of souls. Too many and they’ll drive you crazy.” Yesung took the offered chains from Chungho that bound the angel.

“Yeah, I know. We’ll make them last though, no telling when we may get more,” Seunghun said, before noticing the way the angel was leaning against the wall to keep his legs from giving out on him. “You may have to drag him with you or carry him.”

“I’ll carry him; if I drag him then I’ll never make it back to the Underworld by morning.” Yesung stepped forward, lifting the angel’s arm around his neck and wrapping his arm around the angel’s waist to support most of his weight. “It was good seeing you two again.”

“Same here, Yesung, don’t be a stranger. Anytime you get new missions, let us know, we’d love to help.”

“Will do.” And with that, Yesung helped the angel out of the vampires’ lair and down one of the streets before he stopped and let go of the angel, letting him fall back onto one of the benches.

Before the angel could question why they stopped, Yesung grabbed the chains around his wrists and yanked them off, tossing them behind him as he started to take off his coat, revealing his sleeveless black shirt underneath. His pale skin was vibrant against the streetlights. The snow was falling harder from earlier, the temperature was dropping, and Yesung knew that he couldn’t let the angel freeze. The angel, however, spoke up in a whisper at this motion.

“I can’t feel the coldness, you know.”

A smile tugged at Yesung’s lips at finally hearing the angel’s voice, even though it was a whisper, but at least it wasn’t him begging for help anymore. He wrapped the coat around the angel’s shoulders. “You will soon, your suit is shredded and that was the reason why you didn’t feel the temperatures before.”

“What?”

Yesung took in the confused look on the angel’s face and explained, “Your suit is blessed with light, all angels’ clothes are, so it keeps them warm or cool depending on their surroundings, but once it tears or is stripped from their bodies, their skin becomes cold or hot like a human’s. The only reason you couldn’t feel it back where the vampires were was because you were half-drained of blood.”

The angel stared at him in wonder for a moment. “How would you--”

“Research, of course. You think you’re the first angel I’ve encountered?” Yesung chuckled softly, and then bent down in front of the angel, his back facing him. “Hop on and I’ll take you to my home where you’ll be healed.”

The angel hesitated at first, but after struggling to get his weak arms through the sleeves of the coat, he wrapped his arms around the demon’s neck and allowed himself to be lifted up. The demon’s hands were secured under his thighs while he leaned forward to keep the angel from falling. The two started back down the street, heading towards the end of the city.

“Why are you going to heal me?” The angel mumbled after burying his face into the warmth of the demon’s neck, the cold wind was starting to get to him like Yesung stated. “Aren’t you just going to drain me of all my blood like those two fiends?”

Yesung shook his head slightly, “I came to rescue you from those two one way or another, as crazy as that is to believe.”

The angel paused before replying, “You’re right, that is too crazy to believe.”

“But it’s the truth. May I ask your name, by the way?”

“Kyuhyun; and is that the reason why you didn’t drink as much of my blood before?”

“I promised myself a few centuries ago to not indulge in an angel’s blood again, I had to earlier for show, but I was also afraid that if I tasted too much that I might not have been able to resist. So to answer your question from a moment ago, no, I won’t drain you dry, Kyuhyun.” The sound of the angel’s name on his tongue left a nice aftertaste, he noted, and hoped that it was just the blood from earlier lingering.

“You’ll have to tell me later about your dealings with angels. I’ll have to thank whoever it was that changed your heart so you wouldn’t end up killing me,” Kyuhyun replied. His eyelids drooping shut. His body had already started healing itself slowly but he still felt weak and parts of his body still hurt, yet due to the warmth radiating off Yesung, he felt sleepy. “You don’t mind if I go to sleep, do you?”

“Not at all, go ahead. It’ll help you heal a little faster until we reach my home.”

Kyuhyun hummed in response and let himself be carried away to dreamland, leaving Yesung with silence. The only sounds were the crunch of snow under his feet and the sounds of the wind blowing against the buildings. Yet Yesung noticed that the winds didn’t sound as lonely as they did before, and for that, a small smile crossed his lips as he trudged onward towards the portal to the Underworld.