I'm a mind reader, for crying out loud. How long do you think you can lie to a mind reader? It took me until dinner time to realize he wasn't actually a vampire. I guess it made sense. After all, he kept referring to vampires in his mind as 'them', not 'us'. But it didn't stop me from being disappointed.

               I couldn't even yell at him after I found out, because he didn't know I could read minds. So I just withdrew, escaping to the hospital.

                I didn't realize how much I missed being there until I entered the building and was met by the familiar, smiling face of Ryeowook, the front desk person.

                "Oh, you're here. How are you doing? You look upset." He asked, concern on his features. I sighed, relaxing at the honest concern he showed. It was nice being back here again.

                "Nothing. Just this guy. He's been lying to me, and I don't know why, or if I should call him out on it, or what." I shook my hand through my hair angrily.

                "Oh…That's difficult. It's always tough when you can't trust your partner." Ryeowook answered carefully.

                "I know." I sighed. "But, anyways, what needs to be done?"

                "Not much right now. You could play with the kids, if you want." He suggested, and I smiled.

                "Okay. I'll do that." I waved to him, and went to the elevator. I guessed it seemed funny, a vampire volunteering at a hospital. In books, vampires always lost control if somebody bled even a little. But not me. It was kind of like working at a McDonald's or something…when I was full, I wasn't tempted at all.

                Actually, I volunteered at the hospital because I was a vampire. I needed to get blood abgs from somewhere, after all. Originally, Eomma had gotten them, but after I threw a tantrum at him for getting the gross ones again, he told me I'd be getting it myself from then on. So, ever since I was twelve, I'd go to the hospital every few days and help out with cleaning, playing with kids, keeping patients company. And then when nobody was looking, I'd filch a few blood bags from the freezers downstairs.

                Playing with the children was my favorite. They were so cute and innocent. I made my way to the nursery area, smiling as Taemin ran toward me, wrapping his little arms around my legs.

                "Heeee!" He smiled, "Guess what, guess what!"

                "What?" I asked.

                "I drew you a picture!" He ran out of the room, and I took the opportunity to wave at the other kids. Minho frowned at me, sticking his tongue out. Brat.

                Taemin came running back in at the speed of light, excitedly showing me the picture. "Look,  look! This one's you…" He pointed to the bigger one with long hair. "…and this one is me! Look, we're getting married. That's what my mom says you do when you love someone very very much."

                "Aww, that's so sweet, Taeminnie." I took the picture, examining it. "But wait, who's that in the background?  He doesn't look very happy." There was a little guy in the corner with a very exaggerated frowny face.

                "Oh, that's Minho. He's always angy, so I made him angry here, too." He didn't seem very interested in that line of questioning, so he pointed to more interesting parts of the picture. "Look, look, that's a unicorn! It's going to spread happiness everywhere and make all the sick kids get better."

                I laughed. "That is so adora—" Just then, Minho stormed in, grabbing the paper and crumpling it up.

                "Hey!" Taemin cried. "That's for Hee oppa!"

                "Whatever. It's stupid. Unicorns don't even exist, and sick kids just die. Everybody knows that." He emphasized the point by throwing down the paper and stepping on it.

                "Minho! Don't say things like that." I scolded. Taemin was already starting to cry. I pulled the little guy into my arms, scowling at Minho. "Go sit on the naughty chair and wait for me to come back. I'm going to have words with you, mister."

                I carried Taemin into his room, cradling him on the bed. "Shh…" I murmured. "He didn't mean it. He was just in a bad mood." I comforted, feeling my shoulder get hot from Taemin's little tears.

                "C-c-could you sing me a song?" He asked, so innocent and vulnerable that I couldn't refuse.

                "What kind of song?" I asked.

                "Light 'em up." He answered, and I laughed. Honestly, I'd been expecting him to want some sort of lullaby. Not rock. But I guess I was best at songs like that anyways, so I complied.

                "So Light 'em up up up, light 'em up up up, light 'em up up up, I'm on FIII-ARRR!!" I sang, making the 'fire' part so loud and obnoxious, Taemin began to giggle. I repeated it, and he laughed that adorable, sincere laughter only little kids could do. I repeated it again and again until he was completely calmed down.

                "You know…Minho is so mean." He finally said.

                "Oh really? How?"

                "He's always bothering me. Like, anytime I make a new friend, he never likes them, and tells them mean words."

                "You know what, I have a friend like that, too! I made a new friend named Siwon, and any time I texted him, Hankyung got all mad and huffy."

                "Oh, yeah! Minho gets like that, too, when I talk to Jinki!"

                "And he told me today that he doesn't like Sohee. Who doesn't like Sohee? And what business has he got disliking her, if he kissed her?"

                "He kissed her, but he doesn't like her?" Taemin asked in disbelief.

                "Yeah!" I answered in equal disbelief.

                "That's weird. I thought you only kissed people you liked."

                "Yeah, well, me too."

We were silent for a little bit, before Taemin finally said, "I'm gonna go play," and I realized I was confiding in a five year old.

We went back to the play area, and I took Minho aside. He pouted at me, and I looked at him seriously. "Listen to me, Minho. I can understand you being rude. I can accept you taking the picture and ruining it. I will forgive stuff like that. But you are never, never to tell Taemin he's going to die. Do you understand me? Saying stuff like that is very, very bad. Taemin has a very serious condition, and I don't want you using it to torment him. He's going through enough right now, without you adding on to it."

Minho began to cry. "I'm sorry…" he sobbed, and I gave him a hug.

"It's okay, just as long as you don't do it again. You didn't know how hurtful your words were, but now you do, right? So you're not going to say it again?"

"I won't."

"Good. Now, you should be nicer to Taemin's friends. Why are you always mean to them?" I asked.

"Because, I don't want him to be friends with anyone else. I only want him to be friends with me." He answered simply.

"Hmm…well, that's no good, because Taemin likes to play with a lot of people."

"But…but then he's going to forget about me!" Minho cried, "He's going to forget about me, and go to heaven, and I'll be stuck here, all alone!"

Suddenly, I realized what this must be like for Minho, stuck in a hospital because of some hopeless muscular disorder, and then meeting someone he really liked, a true friend. And then realizing that friend would die soon…to feel all that at such a young age…

I wrapped him up in a giant hug. "Listen, Minho. Taemin will never, never, forget about you. Do you wanna know why? Because you're his best friend. The other kids are all just regular friends, but you're his best friend, which means you're special."

"Special how?" He brightened up. "Do I get cool powers?"

"No, special like…You get to be the one that Taemin talks to the most. And when he dies, he'll be your guardian angel, and stay with you forever. But in return, you have to be nice to him, and all his friends. And you need to protect him so that nobody says anything bad about him, or do anything to make him sicker."

"Oh." Minho thought about it. "I like that. I'm his best friend. Forever." He grinned widely, planting a kiss on my cheek. "Thank you, teacher, you're the best!" He ran off happily, going over to Taemin and planting a kiss on his lips, announcing, "You're my best friend!"

I sighed, thinking about it on my way home. My own problems seeming insignificant, now. What problems did I even have? So, Hankyung lied about being a vampire. At least he knew about vampires. So he could still tell me what I wanted to know. And what did matter if he lied about something small like that? I remembered how Onew, one of the nurse's kids, had told everyone he was sick just because he didn't want to be the only healthy kid in the hospital. Hankyung's lie was like that. Stupid and harmless.

Sure, I didn't know why he lied, but…I didn't have to stress about it. He'd tell me when he was ready. I sighed. Moments like these, when I was completely calm and without any sort of drama, were the best. I looked up at the sky, relishing the cool night air.

It was already eleven. I was going to be tired in the morning. I hoped Leeteuk and Kangin wouldn't be too worried. They knew I was at the hospital, but they always got nervous if I was walking home after dark.

Who knows why, though. I mean, we don't exactly live in the crime capital of the world. Far from it, actually. The chances of me running into some sort of psycho killer on my way home, even late at night, were about zero. I pulled out one of my new blood bags, on it idly. Mmm, coconut.

I was thinking this when I bumped into someone's shoulder. I turned to see who it was, and was met with the angry, bespectacled eyes of someone I was pretty sure was supposed to be in prison right now.

"You!!" He cried, swinging around angrily. "This is all your fault!"

"What did I do?" I asked, looking like a deer in the headlights. What was he doing out of prison?

"And you have the nerve to ask! As if you don't know! You—what's in your hand?" He grabbed me before I could pull away. "Blood! Then, you're a—it all makes sense now! You little—" He tried to smack me, but I kicked his shins before the blow could land.

"Yah! Don't touch me!" I yelled, pushing him away. "I'm calling the police." I pulled out my phone.

"Oh, no you don't. Simon, Theodore." He called, and the two appeared out of nowhere, grabbing my cellphone from my hands, and clutching my arms so I couldn’t move.

"Ya-Ah!" My complaint was cut off when the leader smacked me in the face. I struggled against the two smarmy goons to either side of me, but they were a lot stronger than they looked.

"No. You don't get to talk. You're going to do exactly what I say, and then we are going to kill you, quickly and humanely. Or, you could not do what we say, and you can die slowly like the monster scum you are. Which do you choose?"

"Is there a third option? Because those two hardcore." I snarked, and was rewarded with another slap to the face.

"Shut up, monster. Here's what we want you to do. First, remove whatever hypnotism you have on our comrade."

"What? I've never even hypnotized anyone in my life!" I protested. This time, after the slap, I kicked him with all my strength.

"Oof! Yah—control him!"

"Sorry, Alvin." The taller one apologized. "Maybe you could stand farther away…"

"Well, obviously, I'm going to, now. I don't need you to tell me what to do." Alvin answered, before turning back to me. "We've changed our minds. No more playing nice, here."

"That was nice?" another slap. However, this time, he actually jumped away as soon as he did it, moving so quickly I had to laugh, which earned me another slap. Whatever. I could do this all night.

"The hypnotism will probably go away after you die. The rest we can do ourselves." He reasoned, nodding. "Tonight, you're going to die."

"I call his head." The one on my right interjected. "I'm missing a vampire head on my wall."

"Fine, Theodore. Now, how do you guys want to kill him? Remember, it has to be with the wood of a blessed oak tree, but everything else…we can get creative with." He smirked, pulling out a sharpened stake from his sleeve and digging it into my collarbone.

The pain was worse than anything I'd ever felt before. It burned, roiling and fizzing on my flesh. The horrible burning was there until he finally removed the stake. I wasn't even aware of my own scream until he pulled away. When I opened my eyes, I was horrified to see that I wasn't bleeding, but instead my skin had warped and bubbled until it looked like some goopy mess sitting on my body.

I screamed as he stabbed me again, this time in the leg.

And then, all of a sudden, a wolf was on top of Alvin, teeth and claws tearing into his flesh. He screamed, and his goon pulled out a silver sword, slashing at the wolf with it. He nicked the wolf's left arm before the wolf detached itself from the leader, stalking around the three nerds dangerously. It growled loudly, and the goon went in with the sword, swinging it this way and that. This time, though, the wolf was ready for him, biting his arm until he dropped the sword.

Then the wolf retreated again, staring them down, until they finally got the hint and ran away, knowing they didn’t have a chance. The wolf gave a little snort of derision, before turning to me, sniffing the injury. Suddenly, the wolf turned into a human. The last human I ever expected to see in this sort of situation.

"Are you okay?" The werewolf asked, as I just stared.

No way.

"Really, if you keep staring at me like that, I'm going to leave. You're lucky I got to you in time, before those psychopaths…no. Let's not think about that. What did they even want with you, anyways? You're like the most harmless person in the school."

"I-I'm not harmless." I protested. "I've fought tons of guys and won."

 "Psh. Sure you did." Sohee answered, grinning. "But people like that should be going after monsters like me, not humans like you." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Well, I have to go, anyways. My mom's waiting for me. See ya. Don't get psycho killed on your way." She waved, skipping off.

When she was out of sight, I collapsed to the ground, legs having lost all feeling.

______

You thought it was Hangeng, didn't you? :P hehehe