chapter 13

The scent is so strong it overpowers Ailee’s and Woohyun’s head whirls. Sunggyu is somewhere in this house and nothing will stop Woohyun from getting him back. He senses eight people and one of them is Sunggyu. “Seven of them,” Woohyun says.

“Should we try taking them on?”

Woohyun doesn’t answer but the fire in his eyes speaks loud enough. Myungsoo nods. “Let’s go through the roof.”

The two jump up, expecting that the front door would be locked beyond breaking in. Their feet slide on the old shingles and Myungsoo jumps, bringing his feet down with so much force that the roof caves in, forming a gaping hole.

Woohyun jumps down and lands beside Myungsoo. The room they land in is a tiny closet filled with old cleaning supplies. It’s small and Myungsoo pushes open the door. “I’m sure they know we’re here. We should stick together.”

Woohyun nods and follows Myungsoo out. He listens and hears people moving around. He searches for someone’s breath, though, a very certain someone. It takes him a little but he can hear soft sobs. It’s Sunggyu and he moves so quickly that Myungsoo almost loses him.

“I’m sorry but I cannot let you go any further.”

Woohyun lunges. He’s quick and nimble and the vampire falters before pushing against Woohyun and sending him back. He’s strong to catch Woohyun but Myungsoo knows this vampire won’t last long against Woohyun in the state he’s in.

“I’m going forward,” Myungsoo yells as he runs past Woohyun. He searches for the sound of human and hears sobs that grow louder as he gets closer. He wonders where the rest of the vampires are. Surely they would be here but they aren’t.

Woohyun catches up, the front of his jacket torn along with a scratch that stretches across his chest. Suddenly Myungsoo’s thrown back. He crashes to the floor and digs in his feet to stop himself. He stands and in a flash his hand is in the vampire’s stomach and he’s ripping out a kidney. He throws the kidney across the room and doesn’t stay long enough to watch the vampire fall to his knees. He rushes forward until he and Woohyun are turning down a hallway. The quiet sobs are so close now that a human could hear them.

They skid to a stop to see a line of three vampires blocking their way. Something is off about these vampires, though, and they seem different. Woohyun and Myungsoo don’t have time to think about it because they start to move forward and the two prepare themselves, bearing fangs.

…

Sunggyu scrambles to his feet when he hears noises. It sounds like fighting and Sunggyu flinches with each bang. “Your little friends won’t last long. There are only two of them.”

Woohyun and Myungsoo are here, or that’s what Sunggyu wants to believe so very badly. But who else could be here? Sunggyu needs to escape and he needs to get Woohyun and Myungsoo out. What is he supposed to do? How can he get passed this vampire that is watching him so carefully?

It’s stupid but he knows it’ll attract attention so Sunggyu backs up until his back is pressed against the doors leading out to the balcony. He’s on the third floor and there’s no way he’d make the jump but he opens the door anyways. “What are you doing?” Eunkwang steps forward gingerly as Sunggyu steps back onto the balcony.

“Stop!”

He doesn’t stop until he’s backed up against the railing. Eunkwang takes another step forward and Sunggyu grips the edge of the railing, leaning backwards. He’s running out of ideas. All he really wanted to do was make some sort of commotion that would attract attention because he knows for a fact that vampires have hearing way beyond that of a human’s. He hopes that maybe if he says it loud enough and clear enough it’ll catch at least someone’s attention. “Sungjae wants me alive, right? Then I’ll kill myself unless you let me go.”

Sunggyu tries to sound firm but his voice shakes as he glances at the ground beneath him. He’s never been too great with heights and even though he’s bluffing, the thought of falling off the balcony still makes him whoozy. He tries to puff out his chest in hopes he looks like he isn’t bluffing so maybe Eunkwang will believe him. “You’re lying. Like you would kill yourself.”

Sunggyu gulps. His bluff has been called. So he decides to take it a step further. Sunggyu pulls himself up so that he’s standing on top of the railing, clenching his fists as he tries to balance himself. He turns around and lifts his foot like he’s about to walk forward. Eunkwang yells and just as Sunggyu loses his footing, Eunkwang catches him and throws him back so hard he crashes through the locked door and into the hallway. His back hits the wall with a loud thud and he lets out a loud grunt. He honestly doesn’t know how people can do this in the movies because crashing through a door and hitting a wall at full force hurts like a .

He opens his squinted eyes and realizes that there was fighting around him but it had abruptly stopped the moment Eunkwang yelled and threw Sunggyu into the hallway. His vision is blurry and his back aches but he attempts to focus. Silence falls as everyone in the hallway looks at Sunggyu in awe. The thing that snaps Sunggyu out of his daze is hearing a familiar voice. “Sunggyu!”

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu chokes.

The scent of Sunggyu’s blood is so fresh in the air that Woohun almost falls over. He hasn’t had blood in days and he almost attacks Sunggyu then and there. But then he realizes that the reason Sunggyu’s blood smells so strong right now is because deep red blood is oozing out from two fang wounds in his neck. He gulps, overcome by a feeling of rage so strong he thinks he’s going to burst.

The atmosphere in the room is chilly and so terrifying that Sunggyu physically shivers. He realizes that Woohyun’s looking at the blood coming from his neck and he slaps his hand over the open wound. The feeling of the blood drying to his skin causes the colour to drain from his face and he bites his lip. In a blink, Woohyun is gone and pushing Sungjae up against the wall, growling almost like an animal. It’s probably the most scared Sunggyu’s ever been of Woohyun and he’s not sure how he’s supposed to feel about it.

“I am going to rip off each of your limbs until you're a bloody mess on the floor and only then will I rip your heart out of your chest,” a low growl emits from deep within his throat but Sungjae shows no fear. He laughs, instead, as if Woohyun’s threat means nothing.

Everyone in the room stands still for a moment, waiting to see the outcome of this. The only way Sunggyu can begin to explain it is if two hurricanes carrying strong tornadoes and crashing tsunamis clash. Like two of the worst storms the world has ever faced fighting each other.

“Do you realize what a prize you’ve won? But I suppose that the Prince deserves the best after all. I must admit that I am quite jealous. You must enjoy getting to taste that delicious blood every day like the ambrosia. I can only imagine how much temptation you get to just rip that milky skin apart and drown in the red deliciousness—”

Woohyun snaps and then it all happens so fast that Sunggyu can’t even see what’s going on. It’s just a blur. Everyone jumps into action and Myungsoo is facing far too many people that he’ll be overwhlemed very soon. Sunggyu panics. If he gets involved it’s very possible he can die. Vampires are strong and Sunggyu as a human isn’t any use. At all.

Woohyun crashes through the wall right beside Sunggyu which startles him so severely he screams some gibberish. Woohyun crashes into the wall with so much force that he flies through the walls of the next two rooms and to the outside until he plunges to the grass with a loud thump. He glances over to see Myungsoo being pinned down by Hyunsik and his heart almost stops. Before he can do anything, he’s swept up into the air and thrown over Sungjae’s shoulder. “Let me go!” Sunggyu punches Sungjae’s back with as much force as he can put into it but Sungjae remains completely uneffected.

“Sorry, princess, but I’ll be taking you with me.”

“Woohyun!” Sunggyu screams at the top of his lungs.

Below, Woohyun’s eyes fly open and he jolts to his feet. He forgets about his gaping wounds despite the pain he gets from the hole in his chest that Sungjae’s hand had been through and jumps up into the decaying building. He kicks Sungjae and when his legs give out he grabs Sunggyu, pulling him away. “Let’s go, L!”

Myungsoo pushes the vampires off of him and they fly backwards. Myungsoo and Woohyun go out through the hole Woohyun had flown through, running at the speed of light — far faster than Sunggyu had ever seen. He wraps his arms around Woohyun’s neck and buries his face into Woohyun’s shoulder. Woohyun’s warmth is all he wants and all he needs. It makes him feel safe and at home and he doesn’t realize how terrifying the situation he’d just been in was until Woohyun’s holding him close.

The scent of blood fills Sunggyu’s nose and he gags, coughing into the fabric of Woohyun’s shirt. They come to a stop in front of the mansion. Sunggyu untucks his head from Woohyun’s shoulder and looks up at him. He doesn’t look right — he looks tired. “Woohyun?”

“Sunggyu... are you okay?”

“Woohyun, I’m fine. What’s wrong?”

Woohyun smiles and weakly presses his lips to Sunggyu’s forehead. Sunggyu moves his hand down to Woohyun’s chest and in his breath when he feels the wetness of thick blood. He takes his hand away to see red covering his fingers. “Woohyun!”

Woohyun collapses and Sunggyu falls with him. He scrambles up and panics because Woohyun’s unconscious on the floor as a puddle of deep red blood pools around him. Myungsoo himself is weak and he drops to his knees. Sunggyu screams for help as tears well in his eyes. “Woohyun!”

not proofread. sue me.