“What do you mean?” questioned Yunho as he scanned the hilltop for the source of the voice and saw no one “Where are you?”

As the apprehensive and tense moments began to build, Yunho couldn’t understand why this was happening. He couldn’t understand why that mysterious man had such an effect on him, making him act so unlike himself and invoking such a strong need to see him, but right now none of those doubts and fears mattered. All he needed was to see that face once more and everything would be right with the world.  

“Please…” begged Yunho as he wiped his eyes and stood “Show yourself.”

“Why?” questioned the voice.

“I want to see you.” answered Yunho “I need to see you, to see if you are truly real and not just my imagination.”

“I have done nothing but think of you for months. I can’t get you out of my head and it's driving me insane as to why?” confessed Yunho as he continues to scan the hilltop for the mystery man, spinning in place as he searched “Why is that I can’t stop thinking about you? Why is that I see you everywhere, even in my dreams?”

“Please tell me…” begged Yunho again “Please tell me what it is that you want of me? Why do thoughts of you torment me so?”

“I do not know.” answered the voice “The reason is beyond even me.”

“Don’t say that!” argued Yunho immediately “You do know! You know exactly why I am this way.”

“I do not.” answered the voice once more.

“Then why must you hide yourself from me?” countered Yunho “Why do you watch me secretly and refuse to show yourself?”

“What is it about me that makes you seek me out?” questioned Yunho curiously “What compelled you to come here, tonight!”

“I…” sighed the voice deeply, sounding seemingly louder and closer than before “do not know.”

From behind him, Yunho heard a sound that sounded like metal tinging on metal. Spinning around he stopped and stared at the sight of his mystery man leaning back against the safety railing – still dressed in the same clothes he had seen outside his office and resting his hand on the cool metal, came into view. Taking a step closer to the man, Yunho looked at him almost worriedly. His once beautiful skin was pale, his eyes were haunted by dark circles and his face carried a countenance of pure sadness. He looked worried, almost lost, as if his whole world had fallen apart in an instant.

“Why do you look this way?” Yunho questioned meekly as he took a few steps toward the exhausted man and looked at him with concern.

“You look… unwell.” he sighed worriedly as he unconsciously reached out and tried to touch the man’s face “Are you alright?”

Jaejoong instantly recoiled, brushing away Yunho’s hand.

“Talk to me.” begged Yunho softly “What’s wrong?”

“The world,” answered Jaejoong cryptically.

“What happened?” questioned Yunho caringly “Tell me.”

“You wouldn’t understand.” replied Jaejoong with a sigh “It’s is beyond you.”

“Try me…” uttered Yunho “Jaejoong…”

Jaejoong immediately looked up at Yunho completely shocked.

“How do you know my name?” he questioned incredulously “I’ve…never…told you.”

“I…” stuttered Yunho as he looked at the man confusedly, not knowing where that information had come from himself “don’t know. Your name… it…I’m not sure…”

“It just came to me to me I guess…” sighed Yunho “In a dream, maybe?”

Jaejoong stared at the human before him. There had been something about this man that had confounded him all those months ago. It had been the reason why he had appeared from the shadows that night and shown himself to the unsuspecting mortal, and yet he still could not understand why he felt so compelled to do so. There was just something about him. He was a curiosity, something quite different from any other human he had ever encountered, and yet he felt so familiar.

Over the last few months, Jaejoong had spent his nights dealing with the politics and hierarchical demands of his station in life, but none of that took precedence over his new subject of curiosity. The feelings that Yunho had managed to conjure up within him, that night, were unlike anything he had ever felt before and for reasons beyond even his understanding, he started to think about the lowly human all the time.  Before he knew it, his curiosity, and a strange need to see him had all but taken over his thoughts and actions. He wasn’t sure why or what it meant. All he knew was that he wanted to see Yunho.

With his father’s demands getting more and more relentless and Lord Junsu’s overzealous hormonal pursuit of him getting worse and worse, Jaejoong knew the more he ventured out to check on the subject of his newfound fascination, the more likely his fascination would become discovered by those of his kind. That possible attention worried him but a part of him didn’t care. He wanted to see him. He needed to see him. But the restrictions placed on him by his father had made it difficult. For many days he had tried to sneak out to see Yunho but it had become almost too difficult. His father had increased the guards around the family mansion and sneaking out daily became almost impossible. His desire to see Yunho would not be sated, however.

Though his life hindered his ability to see the man, he found ways to leave the mansion without ruffling his father’s feathers –or so he thought. He managed to slip away on several occasions, only for a few hours before he had to return, but during those precious days and nights, he had managed to see him, if only for a moment. The more he ventured out, however, the more his father and family became suspicious.

Changmin had been ordered to reign in the young prince, or be punished severely, but no matter how much he wanted to keep Jaejoong from harm, he could not disobey the feelings of his own heart. He loved Jaejoong and wanted him to be happy. And, for him, if allowing Jaejoong to see Yunho –even from a distance, was enough to make the man he cared so much for beyond happy, then he would not stand in his way, no matter how much the King protested. He had warned Jaejoong many times though, telling him that violating the covenant’s laws would not only put him in mortal danger but also Yunho, but his prince ignored his warnings for the most part. Jaejoong’s logical mind was just too invested in the strange feelings he felt when he saw the man.

No human had ever affected Jaejoong this much before but when it came to Yunho, there was something –something almost tangible but not quite. He felt as if he knew the man but didn’t.

“I shouldn’t be here.” panicked Jaejoong nervously as he stepped away from Yunho.

No matter how interested he was in this human, the circumstances were all too unusual for even him. Jaejoong had taken some solace in the fact that Yunho didn’t know his name or that he had been watching him over the last few months, but now that safety of the unknown was gone. Somehow Yunho knew his name. Somehow Yunho had known that he was watching him. Somehow Yunho had known that there was something wrong just by looking at his face.

He had seen and experienced many strange things in his four hundred years of life, some good some bad, but this was beyond even him. Something wasn’t right. Something unnatural was at work here.

“I need to go,” added Jaejoong nervously.

He had to leave and figure out what was really going on. He had to figure out why he, himself, kept feeling so drawn to this man and why even the sight of Yunho made him feel so conflicted and confounded and invoked within him such a compelling need to be by his side.

And, most of all, why all of this seemed so terribly familiar?

“Wait, Jaejoong.” begged Yunho as he reached out and grabbed the man by the arm “Please don’t leave.”

“Please?” whispered Yunho in a defeated tone.

“I can’t stay.” answered Jaejoong as a vision of his irate father’s face, from the distant past, suddenly flashed across his mind warningly “I have to go.”

“Why?” questioned Yunho desperately.

“It’s not safe,” Jaejoong answered as the terrible memories of his heartbreaking past tried to invade his thoughts and he shook them away.

“Not safe?” questioned Yunho worriedly “Why are you afraid for your own safety?”

“It’s not mine I’m worried about…” answered Jaejoong with a deep sigh as he pulled away “It’s yours.”

“Mine?”  he questioned softly “What do you mean?”

Suddenly a gust of wind blew between them and the hairs on Jaejoong’s neck stood up.

“.” thought Jaejoong as he tore his eyes away from Yunho, immediately aware of another presence watching them closely. Scanning the rooftops with his eyes, his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach the second his senses registered the feel of one of his own kind.

“Damn it.” cursed Jaejoong under his breath as the smell of a familiar immortal wafted past his nose.

On a nearby rooftop, dressed in a half buttoned-up white collar shirt and black jeans, Junsu crouched down on the edge of the roof and watched intently as Jaejoong and a strange human interacted. The more he watched the more his sinister and twisted mind began to churn, the more the jealousy within him rose.  

“Who the are you?” growled Junsu lowly, viciously, as he leaned just slightly and glared at the relatively attractive, for a human, man talking with Jaejoong.

“That little .” spat Junsu as he watches the human reach up and grab Jaejoong’s shoulder.

“What’s it is?” questioned Yunho as he followed Jaejoong’s eyes towards an eight-story building across the street.

“Yunho…” Jaejoong said with a low growl, giving off a feeling of imminent danger so strong that it made Yunho release his grip on the immortal and step back, and sounding uncharacteristically cold “You need to leave right now. Go.”

“Go?” questioned Yunho confusedly “But…”

“Just go!” growled Jaejoong again as he turned to look back at Yunho, the fierceness in his eyes laced with a tinge of fear, as he pushed Yunho back.

“Why?” Yunho questioned as he suddenly felt very afraid of the beauty.

“Don’t argue.” ordered Jaejoong as he glared up at Yunho with an almost terrified look “There are forces in my life that would do you harm, should they see you with me. You must go now before it’s too late.”

“Please…just go…for now…” begged Jaejoong as he turned his face back towards the apartment building and his eyes suddenly began to glow.

“Will I ever see you again?” questioned Yunho shakily.

“Only if you go now.” promised Jaejoong as he began to feel his animalistic and protective nature growing inside of him and he took a step towards the apartment building “So…go.”

Without saying a word, Yunho stared at Jaejoong for a few seconds as a palpable fear began to grip him. He had never seen the man act so cold to him and wondered what had happened to make him so tense. Why did he seem like he was suddenly on the defensive?

Not offering up any more explanation, Jaejoong began to walk away. As he neared the darkness, Yunho called out to him once more.

“I lied to you, you know?” confessed Yunho, a desperate and earnest plea to keep Jaejoong there, as he stared at the immortal’s retreating form “About making my own dreams come true on my own.”

Jaejoong suddenly stopped –taking in the human’s words with the worried countenance.

“What do you mean?” asked Jaejoong without looking back.

“I had already offered up my wish to the Goddess before we met.” Yunho confessed, “Do you want to know what I wished for?”

“No.” answered Jaejoong as he took a step forward and disappeared into the darkness –an unwillingness to hear Yunho’s answer purposefully guiding his footsteps.

“It was you.” thought Yunho, with a deep and rejected frown upon his face, as he watched the beautiful man vanish from his sight “I wished for you.”

Still crouched on the edge of the rooftop, Junsu watched as Jaejoong disappeared from underneath the light of the flickering lamppost on the hill before glaring at the lowly human who had been taking up his young Prince’s time. Junsu didn’t know what to make of the man or Jaejoong’s reasons for interacting with him, but he immediately felt threatened by his presence. There was something about the lowly human that caused Junsu to see red.

As a soft breeze blew by, Junsu chuckled ominously as the familiar scent of Jaejoong brushed past his nose.

“Took you long enough.” he teased a second later as Jaejoong appeared on the rooftop behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see his furious intended looking back at him in disgust “Distracted, were you?”

“Shut up,” growled Jaejoong authoritatively, his princely countenance flashing instantly.

“You were ordered to leave me be until the summer solstice.” spat Jaejoong in disgust “How dare you, violate my father’s command and ing follow me anyway?”

“Is it not my duty to watch over and protect my bride?” chuckled Junsu sinisterly as he stood up and turned to Jaejoong fully “What kind of husband would I be otherwise?”

“I am not your bride, yet!” fired back Jaejoong, his immortal eyes flickering in the darkness.

In an instant, Junsu’s normally deep brown eyes changed –revealing the golden-red eyes of his mixed blood and with a rage unlike any Jaejoong had ever seen from the man, Junsu suddenly lunged for him. Grabbing Jaejoong by the throat, he pushed him back hard, skidding across the gravel-covered roof, until his back slammed up against the unforgiving metal of the rooftop’s industrial-sized air conditioner with a loud bang. Leaning in close to Jaejoong, Junsu breathed in his scent as a low, seductive growl escaped from behind his lips.

“Oh…yes you are.” breathed out Junsu wantonly as he tightened his grip around Jaejoong’s throat “No matter how much, or hard, you protest…Your life…your blood…your body… all belong to me.”

“You’re mine Jaejoongie…” added Junsu as he leaned back and peered into those immortal eyes that he had loved for over a century.

“Never.” defied Jaejoong as he reached up with both hands and tried to wring himself free “You may have my father fooled, but I know what you really are.”

“Do you now?” answered Junsu as he closed the gap between them, reached up with his other hand and pulled back Jaejoong’s shirt from his shoulder, and gently guided his lips across Jaejoong’s exposed skin.

“Then do you know what I want to the most?” he breathed out, a seductive and wanton smirk plastered across his face, as he places a gentle kiss on Jaejoong’s shoulder.

“Don’t you dare.” ordered Jaejoong, suddenly very afraid at the closeness of the overly-strong and ually charged lord, as his mind registered what Junsu was thinking “My father will have your ing head if you even try.”

“Do you really think…” replied Junsu as he smiled against Jaejoong’s skin and pressed his body close to him “your father really cares about you anymore?”

“After all…” he added as he placed a gentle kiss on the curve of Jaejoong’s neck and slid his other hand down across the pinned man’s chest “he gave you to me.”

“Not yet, he hasn’t.” defied Jaejoong as he tried to push Junsu away –his efforts only causing Junsu to tighten the grip on his neck even harder and making him wince in pain.

“Hasn’t he?” questioned Junsu with a deep, husky voice as he slipped his hand further and further down until it reached Jaejoong’s clothed manhood.

“Don’t touch me!” growled Jaejoong fiercely, as a sudden sense of panic echoed through him.  

“Get your ing hands off me!” spat Jaejoong angrily as his vow of ual restraint and celibacy, he had adopted over a century ago, slowly began to falter ever so slightly “I will never submit to you. I will never be yours!”

“My body isn’t yours to do with as you please!” added Jaejoong as he tried to forcibly push away Junsu’s ever-persistent hands.

“Isn’t it?” questioned Junsu with a sinister chuckle as he easily brushed Jaejoong’s defensive hands away “For all your protests and vows of chastity, you are just as needful as I. Let me give you what you’ve longed for, for so very long.”

“I don’t want it!” spat Jaejoong back defiantly “Not from you!”

“Do you think your body is yours to give to whom you will?” moaned Junsu as the thought of the lowly human, touching Jaejoong a few moments ago, crossed his mind and he caressed Jaejoong seductively “Do you think your father would allow you such free will ever again?”

“Stop!” ordered Jaejoong as he closed his eyes and tried to will away the sensations.

“Do you think your father would let his one true heir bed anything but another immortal?” he spat disgustedly -ignoring the prince’s words.

“My bed will never have anything to do with you!” fired back Jaejoong.

“Never!” he reiterated as he reached up and put his hands on the half-breed’s chest and pushed as hard as he could.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of yourself love,” growled Junsu as he easily stood his ground against Jaejoong’s weakened protest and tightened his grip on Jaejoong’s throat once again.

“Don’t you remember?” questions Junsu maliciously “You tried it once before and look where that got you.”

“The bed, that your heart once tried to give away to another…so long ago… will never belong to anyone other than me now,” added Junsu, purposefully twisting the knife in an old wound.

“ you!” fired back Jaejoong defiantly.

Finally having his complete fill of the young prince’s defiance, Junsu chuckled sinisterly. Without even an ounce of remorse, caring not what would happen afterward, he nuzzled into Jaejoong’s neck and in one swift motion plunged his hand down the front of Jaejoong’s pants a second before he buried his fangs into his neck.  Screaming in pain as the vicious and ually charged Lord sharp fangs pierced his flesh, and fled from him without restraint, Jaejoong’s mind went blank as an ever-familiar, euphoric feeling suddenly washed all over him. Losing all sense of time and strength, he collapsed against Junsu as his body uncontrollably gave into the man’s unstoppable control over him in that very moment. Feeling Jaejoong give in, Junsu released his hold on the young prince’s throat and wrapped his arm around him, slipping his hand under the man’s shirt while he continually fondled him down below, as the taste of Jaejoong’s precious blood filled him with a desire of unimaginable proportions.

He drank and drank as his mind raced with a thousand memories of Jaejoong’s long-forgotten past. Flashes of faces he would never know, places he would never see, words he would never hear, flittered across his mind as Jaejoong’s blood memories assaulted his very consciousness –flashing sporadically without rhyme or reason. As Jaejoong’s blood flow suddenly began slowly flow unexpectedly, Junsu sighed against his skin disappointedly and pulled away from his neck. Slipping his hand out from the front of Jaejoong’s pants, he grabbed the unsteady and weakened pureblood’s hip and smiled with a twisted form of love gracing his face.

“Never say never…Jaejoong,” whispered Junsu huskily as he wrapped his arms around him and nuzzled into his ear.

Silence descended upon the two for what seemed like forever. Junsu reveled in the closeness he felt in that moment. He wished it could last forever but, forever would not come this night. As the sound of something whistling through the air hit his overly sensitive ears, Junsu’s senses jumped to attention and instantly put him into action. Pushing Jaejoong back against the unforgiving metal once more, the half-breed Lord took an instinctive step back a millisecond before two silver daggers, each encrusted with shining emeralds on their handguards, embedded themselves into the rooftop as his feet.

“Damn dog.” thought Junsu as he looked up in the direction the projectiles had come from.

“You’re late,” smirked Junsu, stepping back again a second later, as Changmin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and landed at Jaejoong’s side –wrapping his arms around him just in time to catch the weakened pureblood before he hit the ground.

“What the hell did you do?” demanded Changmin furiously, his eyes glowing like silver fire, as he looked at his unconscious prince and then shot a wrathful gaze at Junsu.

“I marked him.” answered Junsu with a mischievous smirk and a clearly condescending laugh as he floated away and touched down gracefully on the edge of the rooftop “He belongs to me now.”

Tearing his eyes from the monster before him, Changmin looked at Jaejoong and saw the blood staining his shirt. Reaching up and snatching back the fabric, his eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of two puncture wounds on his Prince’s neck.

“You bastard!” screamed Changmin, snapping his head back towards the half-breed as he tightens his arms around Jaejoong “I’ll ing kill you.”

“You can try.” laughed Junsu sinisterly before he leaped off the rooftop and disappeared into the night.

Growling angrily under his breath at his currently inability to chase after that damn half-breed, Changmin turned his attention to his unconscious best friend in his arms.

“Jae…” begged Changmin as he reached up and patted him on the cheek, trying to get his attention “Are you ok?”

Jaejoong said nothing.

“Jaejoong…Answer me please.” he continued to plead as he fussed over Jaejoong worriedly as his eyes began to water in fear “You have to be alright. Please tell me you’re alright!”

Jaejoong head seemed to move ever-so-gently, giving Changmin hope.

“Love…please answer me…” sighed Changmin heartbrokenly “Please…”

As an almost inaudible moan escaped the unconscious man’s lips, Changmin released a reserved sigh of relief.

“Thank the gods.” thought Changmin as he closed his eyes, for a moment, and tried to slow his panicking heartbeat.

“I need to get you home,” he uttered softly before he scooped Jaejoong up in his arms and stood. Readjusting the thin, almost weightless form of his best friend in his arms, Changmin took off as fast as he could. Bouncing here and there, running across rooftop after rooftop, Changmin made his way hastily towards their family mansion some miles away –all the while worrying over Jaejoong’s health.

He wondered how much Junsu had stolen from him. What had he done to him exactly? And, more importantly, how bad the blood loss would affect him? Jaejoong had always been one of the weakest of their kind, his body unusually frail and less resistant than those of the pureblood lines –even though from the outside he looked stronger than any immortal blood, and blood loss of any kind could be life-threatening if it wasn’t treated quickly. Jaejoong’s general condition was that to which would cause anyone to worry but in certain circumstances, it would be even more compounded.

“When was the last time you fed?” thought Changmin in his mind as he glanced down at the man he had loved for so long in his arms and jumped across to the next rooftop.  

Jaejoong was never known to feed regularly. He would go weeks, and sometimes even months, between feedings –all the while hiding the fact that he had abstained from the one thing their kind must do on a regular basis to live. Changmin had worried for a very long time about why Jaejoong had been refusing his self but he had yet to put his finger on why. All he knew was that Jaejoong had some strange aversion to his very nature as if he was ashamed of being a purebred pureblood, and it had always scared him beyond belief.

“You have to be alright…” prayed Changmin as he tightened his grip on the unconscious love in his arms and hastened his pace towards home “You just have to be…”