The alarm clock was irritating Sehun as it kept ringing away. Groaning, he reached out to stop it. He continued to just lay in his bed, not bothering to get up and get ready for school. He recalled the night’s event, still determined it was a dream.

There was no proof of last night so how can he be sure it was real? But it was all so realistic and he can remember it clearly unlike in a dream. The little girl was so vivid, the zombie was so gruesome he can’t probably imagined it and Kai, somehow he can’t think that Kai was fake, he was so… real.

He can perfectly remember Kai’s face as Kai pinned him down on the ground. How his breath were blown on Sehun’s face, how Kai’s eyelashes brushed his cheeks when he blinked, how his forehead were furrowed in concentration and well, the cold sting of the blade on his neck.

It was all so real, but at the same time, it was all so unrealistic. A zombie? A little girl teleporting him to some godforsaken cemetery, a fledgling decapitating a zombie, him astral travel? no, it was all so very fake.

Sehun, determined to forget about it, just shook his head and got up to get ready. When he was done showering and wearing his school’s uniform, he remembered another thing the little girl said in his dreams ‘And when you get to the school, Water will help you.’

What did she meant by that? Water? A fountain? His school had a fountain but it has been dried up for decades. Sehun thought about how he would check it later when he arrived. However, as he was about to get out from the room, he started to get goosebumps. Something in him called out for him to look out and so he did.

When Sehun opened the curtain, he saw a person was standing near the gate of his house. At first he thought it might be a zombie but this one was too muscular for that, As Sehun stared closely, their eyes met. Sehun was surprised, it was a full-grown Vampyre. His crescent moon was filled and has spirals of tattoos covering his forehead and around his eyes till the top of his nose bridge.

Even though the man was far away from him, Sehun being on the second floor with a closed window between them, Sehun could clearly hear the man’s words as if he spoke them just next to him. “Oh Sehun! Night has Chosen thee! Thy death will be thy birth! Night calls to thee; harken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!”

And in the closed room, a huge gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and his forehead exploded in pain.

He was Marked.

---

Sehun laid in a ball on the bed, trying to get rid of the pain. He’s getting dizzy because of it, he could hear his mom yelling his name downstairs but he had no energy to answer. He was still in his school uniform, not having the energy to even take the jacket of first.

He could hear footsteps getting nearer and then the door to his room opened.

“Sweetie, are you alright? Why are you still in bed? In your uniform nonetheless.” His mom came in and brushed his hair away. Not minding at all that he had coloured it in too many colours, making it look like a rainbow slash a parrot.

“M-mom…” Sehun croaked tiredly and exposed his forehead to her.

He heard an intake of a gasp and then his mom brushed her fingers over the mark.

“I’m sorry..” Sehun muttered which was then received by his mom kissing his head.

“Oh sweetie, it’s not your fault… is it hurting right now?”

“Yeah, but lesser now.” he thanked the gods for that.

He felt the bed shift as he mom got up and went to his private bathroom. She was soon back and laid a wet towel on his forehead which felt heavenly. The cold quickly soothes the pain and he managed to uncurl himself after that for his mom to help him take his jacket off.

“Okay, i’m going to go call up your dad and Hweji because we all need to be there to discuss this.” She patted his head before going out of the room. Sehun was so exhausted that he actually fell asleep for a minute when suddenly his bed bounced when his sister jumped on the space next to him.

“Good morning, fledgling.” she teased.

“Go away.” Not even bothering to open his eyes.

“Come on, don’t be like this.” She poked him on the cheeks till he batted her hand away. “Can I see it?”

He reached over and pulled the now warm but damp towel of off his forehead.

“Wow, that’s cool,” she said while touching it.

“But a damn pain.” he replied.

“You couldn’t have gotten a better time to get marked.” She sounded happy so Sehun raised his eyebrow at her. Sheepishly she continued “I have a huge chem test today that I didn't even study for.”

Laughingly Sehun said, “You’re so screwed.”

Just then their parents were nearing so she whispered to him, “Not a word of it!”

Sehun just smirked.

His parents were supportive and they wanted to get him to the Seoul House of Night as fast as they can as they all knew that a fledgling needs to be near a Vampyre or they’ll endanger their lives.

Soon they had packed everything that he wanted to bring to the House. Sehun was nervous as this’ll be the first time he’ll be separated from his family.

“Is that all?” His mom asks sadly as she looked around his almost empty room.

“Yes.” He never seen his room so bare.

“Okay then… Let’s go.” They went downstairs where his father and sister were lugging his suitcases into the trunk.

As he stepped out of the house, suddenly he got another huge headache.

“Oh, you need to wear this.” His sister came running to him, giving him a dark sunglasses.

“Thanks.” He mumbled as he put them on. It was a bit better stepping out after that.

The ride to the school was long. It was quite far and only reminded Sehun of how much the distance between him and his family will be. As they drove out of the city, they started nearing a rural area where people are usually prohibited from entering.

Sehun stared out of the window at the thick trees surrounding the area when it cleared out and a large, old cemetery filled the view. Sehun frowned seeing it. It was the cemetery from last night… Everything was the same, the statues, untamed vines crawling up in, the tall wild grasses… it’s all the same.

“Wow, now that’s creepy.” He heard his sister muttering beside him.

But his attention was elsewhere because for a split second, he swore he saw the little girl from last night, sitting on top of a tombstone, watching the car pass by. He looked back but the stop was empty but he knew without a doubt, she was there.

So last night really wasn’t a dream? He’ll guess he’ll have to wait and see.

---

When they reached the gates of the House of Night, someone was already waiting for them. Sehun and his family got out with apprehension and the waiting vampyres approached them.

“Welcome.” The only female there greeted them. She was beautiful, her moon is filled and her tattoos surround her forehead, forming roses all over. “I am Hyeri, the High Priestess of Seoul’s House of Night.”

Hello, nice to meet you, my son here is-”

“Oh Sehun, we know, the goddess informed us,” she said politely even though she interrupted Sehun’s dad.

“Oh… Well, take good care of him, alright?”

She gave a sweet smile that seemed to put Sehun’s dad at ease. “Of course.”

The other two male Vampyres stepped forward to get Sehun’s bags out of the car and promptly bringing it away. As Sehun’s family was discussing with the High Priestess of his stay there, Sehun tuned it out.

He looked up at the building, it was big, the campus seemed to contains lots of building. Not to mention there were lots of nature surrounding it, and a cemetery. Sehun wonders if nobody noticed weird zombies lurking around it at night.

“Sehun,” he turned around at his mom’s voice.

They said their goodbyes and it almost broke Sehun’s heart as he watched his family drove away from him.

“It’ll be alright, they can visit you whenever they want, plus the students here are allowed to use their phones.” The High Priestess tried to comfort.

Sehun gave a bitter smile and just nodded.

“Did you pay attention to your schedule as I had explain earlier?”

Crap, Sehun wasn’t listening, “Umm…”

She let out a small laugh, “It’s perfectly alright, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, I’ll try to pay attention next time.”

“That’ll be good. Now, breakfast is at 7.30, lunch midnight and dinner will be at 3 am. Of course, your dormitories has its own kitchen so you can make something for yourself if you ever need it.”

“Don’t we just drink blood?” Sehun asks straightly.

She gave a soft smile and shook her head, “No, fledglings doesn’t have the desires to drink blood. It’s usually Vampyres only.”

“Usually?”

“There are some cases where fledglings have the desire but its only when they are in their sixth form.”

“I see…” Sehun was amazed at the inside of the building. It all seems ethereal and mystic like. There were chandeliers and torches on the walls.

“This is the main building, classes and dining are held here, as well as weekend club activities.”

“Weekend club activities?”

“Yes, it is mandatory for every fledgling. First, the classes are from 8 pm to 3 am. The classes are different from those in human’s school as we focuses on things based from our side, things that every Vampyre needs to know. A few of the classes are Vampyre Sociology, Rituals and Spells, and Ancient Mythology. Some are physical lessons as we need to trained our Vampyres to be the best out there, a few of it are fencing, equestrian and archery.”

“That’s why the place is built surrounded by a forest,” Sehun mumbled under his breath but the High Priestess heard it.

“Yes, we need a suitable place for our activities, plus, it’s kind of hard for the horses to run on highways.” She led him outside of the main building into the courtyard. The Sun was setting so Sehun took off his sunglass. “I hope you’ll get used to the fact you can’t stand the Sun anymore.”

“It’s fine, i wasn’t a fan of it anyways, always preferred to be inside,” Sehun muttered.

“Good then, now, where was I? Weekend club activities, well, in order not to be so exclude, we have mandatory weekend activities like dance class, choir, orchestra and acting clubs for fledgling to participate in. I hope you can find one to your liking.’

“Okay…” As Sehun looked around the courtyard, he saw many fledglings walking about, all were tall, beautiful and wearing all black. Must be a Vampyre’s qualities. Then they were nearing a fountain of a beautiful woman, with her hands raised above her, cupping a crescent moon. She was so beautiful and somehow familiar that Sehun stopped in front of it to stare.

The High Priestess stopped beside him to stare too. “And this, is our Goddess, Nyx. She’s the Goddess of the Night, all of the houses are in tribute to her. All Vampyres worship her as she was the one who created us.”

Sehun felt at ease seeing it, the feelings from seeing it were calming and reassuring, kind of like a mother’s embrace. Just then the wind blew softly and in it Sehun heard a warm voice, welcoming him. He turned around to find the source but there was no one and nothing.

“What wrong?” The High Priestess asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing.” The voice sounded so familiar… Then an image of the little girl came to mind. Could it?

“Let’s carry on.” The High Priestess moved on and Sehun followed, but not before leaving another yearning look at the statue. They moved past it until the courtyard was split into two ways, right and left. “The right are the girl’s dormitories and the left are the boy’s. Each fledgling will be paired with a roommate and since we usually don’t have many fledglings at a time, the dormitories are built with each room having their own private bathroom.”

“That’s nice,” Sehun said, delighted by it, he doesn’t really liked shared bathrooms because other people don’t really intend on keeping it clean.

As they entered the boy’s dorm, the living room was soon in view. It looks very comfortable and homey, it had many sofas, loveseats and bean bags chairs. Plus, 2 flat screen tvs.

“To the left there is the kitchen. Though junk food are not many as we don’t really encourage it.”

There were a few students watching tvs as they walked in but when the High Priestess walked in they stood up and bowed with a fist over their heart. The Vampyre’s traditional way of greeting.

“Please, go back to what you were doing,” she said kindly while leading Sehun upstairs. He watched as the boys took hold of the High Priestess suggestion’s and plopped back down on the sofas.

“Just before, a few Vamps have already sent your luggage up to your room and unpacked it so i hope it’s to your liking.” She said as they stopped on the third floor landing.

“Alright. Which room is mine?”

“The third door on the right. I’ll have to take my leave now.”

“Okay, thank you High Priestess.”

“Just call me Hyeri.” She said and held out her hand for him to shake. He was about to when she gripped his elbow instead. Then Sehun remembered this was how Vampyres shook their hands.

As she walked away, Sehun braced himself and went to his room. With a knock, he opened the door and stepped in. And was greeted with the sight of a boy doing some seriously hard splits.

He just stared as the boy completely ignored him and proceeded to lift his legs and remained in a handstand.

He was in that position for minutes when Sehun finally couldn’t stand it. “Umm… Hi?”

He finally lowered himself and stood properly. He was handsome with intense eyes, he has black circles around his eyes that was probably permanent. “Are you my new roommate?”

“Yeah, Oh Sehun,” Sehun gave his hand out.

“Huang Zitao, just call me Tao.” He shook Sehun’s hand back. “Well, this is your side of the room,” He pointed to the right side “All of your stuff has already arrived and there on the nightstand is your schedule.”

Sehun inspect the closet and drawers and looks like it’s true, the Vamps have already unpacked everything.

“We need to be quick, breakfast is already starting,” Sehun nodded and went to the bathroom to freshen up.

As he stepped out, he found Tao going through his wardrobe. “What are you doing?”

“Taking out your uniform.” He pulled out a black jacket, and at the left chest, was a silver spiral. Then, he noticed Tao had golden wings on his.

“What do those means?”

“Our form. Third formers, you, have the spiral symbol, it represents the silver labyrinth of the goddess and also stands for new beginnings. I’m a fourth former so i have the golden wings of Eros, the god of love which is Nyx’s child. It represents the goddess ability to love and it stands for the students that are moving forward. The fifth formers are a golden chariot and the sixth have the silhouettes of the three faiths.”

“Does everyone have to wear these symbols?”

“Yes. Even the teachers, they have the image of Nyx with her arms upraised and her hands cupping a crescent moon. The good thing about the school is, you can wear anything you want as long as you have the symbols on your left chest.” Now that he thought about it, there was something on the left side of the High Priestess cloth. He was just too preoccupied to pay attention.

Sehun just shrugged, took out any black clothing he had and wore the school’s vest over them.

“Ready?” Tao asked.

“As i’ll ever be,” Sehun muttered and followed Tao to the direction of the cafeteria.

--

The cafeteria were buzzing with fledglings chatting and some shoving their mouth non-stop, probably starved. Sehun doesn’t really feel like eating so he just grabbed a drink and followed Tao to sit with what seems like a group of… hot boys?

There were eight of them, if Sehun didn’t miscount or anything, he double checked. Yes, there were eight of them. As if they knew he’s approaching them, all eight of them gave Sehun the oh-the-new-kid look.

Sehun felt weirded out by all the stares, it makes him feel like he’s on display, and he is not an exhibitionist.

One of them was even gaping at him. Sehun awkwardly shuffled on his feet as Tao stopped at their table.

“Guys, you can stop now. I am dying inside,” Tao quietly chuckled and took a sit beside a tall dude, and whoa, he seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of bed.

Tao tugged on Sehun’s arm and motioned for him to grab a seat, so he sat beside Tao. “Guys, this is Oh Sehun, he just got here today!”

Suddenly, they were all applauding except for that one guy whose face was buried in a pile of books, sleeping, Sehun guessed.

“Welcome to the House of Night, Sehun!” a pale guy with the fourth former badge on his left chest beamed.

“Yeah, welcome!” another guy from behind waved frantically. Sehun felt awkward and he can feel the blood rushing to his cheeks, not used to this kind of attention.

“Another addition to the hot boys, indeed,” the guys with round eyes and goofy smile whistled and earned a spank from the guy who wore… eyeliner?

Honestly, Sehun is confusing himself with the overwhelming shouts of ‘welcome’ and ‘I like your hair’. But what really caught his attention is the sleeping guy. He looked oddly familiar for some reason.

“Guys, for Goddess’s sake, could you please calm down?” the seemed-to-be-in-bad-mood guy spoke and they all immediately silent down. “Sorry about them,” he cleared his throat. “I’m Kris, your Art teacher.”

Now that Sehun can see clearly, that dude actually is a Vampyre, which Sehun almost choke his drink to. He did not expect for a Vampyre to be sitting with them, let alone a teacher.

The ‘Suho’ guy, which Sehun just got to know since he was shouting his name earlier trying to introduce himself, chuckled, “Fear not, he’s not that good in Art, I’m still wondering why he-” he earned a smack and a glare from Kris. Sehun actually got worried for one millisecond before the rest started to boo Kris.

“You’ll get used to it,” Tao gave him an assuring smile which Sehun replied with a nod.

Sehun got to know at least five of them, as the others were doing their work or, sleeping. The one who was gaping at Sehun introduced himself as D.O and he told Sehun that he is seruously impressed with Sehun’s rainbow hair which Sehun shrugged to. The goofy smiled guy is called Chanyeol while the eyeliner one is Baekhyun.

Tao asked him if he wanted to join them in fencing class after this but Sehun refused with a smile and ‘I still need some rest’. They packed their stuffs and head out of the cafeteria leaving Sehun with the sleeping boy.

Sehun moved closer as he felt an unusual attraction towards him. He swiped his tongue across his lower lips and almost lost his breath as the boy showed signs of waking up.

Quickly, he scrambled away and looked around the almost empty cafeteria, trying hard to remember from where he entered. Muttering strands of curse under his breath, Sehun spotted the doorway.

“Hey, you over there.”

The raspy, deep voice stopped his tracks.

“What time is it?” Sehun is still facing away from him frozen in his spot. His voice is awfully familiar.

Sehun raised his arms to indicate that he’s not wearing a watch and battled in his mind whether to turn around and tell him properly or just run out.

His heart almost jumped on his throat as he felt a chilly presence behind his back. He felt himself being spun around and almost fell if not because of a pair of strong arms holding him in place.

“Oh Sehun?”

Blinking, Sehun let out a gasp. The grip around his waist tighten as the other guy leaned closer to his face. Eyes wide and lips parted.

"It's you," Sehun muttered. The image of the boy from his dream, the exact boy. "Kai."

Sehun’s hands somehow made it way to the boy’s face, touching his cheek, running it through his hair. “Y-you’re real.”

A knowing smirk painted on his face as he neared his lips to Sehun's ears. "Told ya,” he whispered and chills shivered down Sehun's spine.

Kai loosened his grip and Sehun stared at him, still unmoving.

"Oh Sehun," Kai said and Sehun blinked. "I'll see you around."

With a boyish smile, Kai walked out of the cafeteria leaving Sehun alone trying to figure out what just happened.

And everything dawned into him.

He just saw Kai.