You first met him at dawn, the last fingers of darkness still desperately clinging to the earth as the sun tried to burn them away. Now that you thought about it, he had been doing the same thing, in a way. In the grey morning light, you had rushed over to the body you spotted lying in the dirt. You briefly registered something clutched in his hands as you knelt down next to him. The man’s chest was still, and his skin was cold when you checked for a pulse that wasn’t there. You were pulling out your cell phone when his eyes snapped open. You froze as his gaze caught yours. There was a moment where everything seemed to move in slow motion, and in that split second, you realized several things at once. His eyes were red. Sharp teeth pressed delicately against the skin of his lower lip. Your brain clicked to a conclusion, and your disbelief at what you thought he was was overpowered by one more revelation: you were definitely not safe.

His hand shot out and grabbed your wrist, fingers like iron.

"Don’t scream," his voice was low and raspy. You would have screamed if terror hadn’t closed your throat. A chill ran down your spine as you struggled against his grasp, unable to break free. He slowly sat up, wincing with every movement, but not relinquishing his grip. "I’m not going to…" he hissed as he shifted. You peered at him and realized with a gasp that there was a gaping hole in his chest. The logical part of your brain was surprised that there was no blood.

He chuckled bitterly at your shocked expression. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

"Well, it looks like you should be dead,” you quipped, before you could help yourself, then snapped your mouth shut again, eyes wide.

His laugh was followed by a grimace. “Well… you’re not wrong.”

You knelt back down from the crouch you had risen to in your attempt to run. Your mouth was dry as you asked, “You… um… you’re not going to kill me, are you?”

He shook his head.

You breathed a tiny sigh of relief, and your eyes were drawn back to the hole in his chest. You pointed at it. “Is there anything I can do to help with that?”

He hesitated. “You won’t like it.”

"Ah," was all you could muster, as you stared at the teeth that flashed dangerously every time his lips parted. He could see the fear on your features.

He slowly released your arm, looking like it took every ounce of his strength to do so. “It’s alright. I’m not going to. I’ll find someone else.”

You stared at him. Despite the strength with which he had held you, he was shaking, and his face was tight with pain. You sighed. “No. You won’t. You want someone willing. You won’t ‘find’ that. There’s hardly anyone around here for a few miles, anyway.” He gave you a stunned look as you ped the high collar of your jacket, trying to squash down your instinct to run. “Just… you can do this without killing me, right?”

He gave a shaky laugh. “Yeah.”

"Then do it."

"Thank you," he murmured, the relief evident on his face. He leaned forward and you couldn’t help the nervous hitch in your breathing as you felt his cool breath ghost over your throat. His lips pressed to your skin, then you felt the scrape of his teeth as he opened his mouth. You let out a tiny whimper, willing yourself not to move. His hands rested on your shoulders.

You cried out as his teeth sank into you, nails digging into your palms at the pain. His groan brought you up short, your cheeks flushing. The pain quickly faded, replaced by a warmth that spread through your body. You had balled your fists in the back of his jacket at some point after he bit you, and you relaxed your grip on him as one of his hands moved to cradle your neck.

Just when you were starting to feel dizzy, he pulled away, with one last . He met your gaze, eyes half lidded, panting slightly. You blinked at him, dazed, cheeks coloring at his sated expression. He tore a strip off of his shirt, carefully pressing it to your neck. You reached up to hold it in place.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I… yes," you answered a bit breathlessly. Your eyes wandered down to his chest to see the hole rapidly closing. "Woah," you breathed, feeling slightly giddy.

He gave an odd smile.

"Thank you again," he said, leaning forward to kiss you lightly. The metallic taste on his lips surprisingly didn’t bother you, and his teeth grazing your lower lip sent a thrill through your entire body.

He stood slowly, offering you a hand up. You wobbled as you stood and he held you steady as you struggled to maintain your balance, still feeling warm and hazy. He chuckled softly, a small smile on his face. “Sorry. That’ll wear off in a few minutes. Makes it easier on those we feed on.”

He was true to his word, and soon after, you regained your wits, but still felt a bit weak from blood loss. He offered to accompany you home to make sure you were safe. You agreed, still not sure you were totally capable of walking. The sun was nearly fully up now and he shied away from it, so you chose to walk through the woods, while you asked him questions.

“So that weird… fuzzy feeling…” you began, not sure how to ask.

He hesitated. “This is going to sound gross, but you know how when a mosquito bites you, it injects saliva that makes your blood not clot?”

You slapped your hand to your neck in horror. “Am I going to have a giant mosquito bite?”

He laughed. “No. No bumps, no itching. It just makes the bite a pleasurable experience instead of a painful one.”

You blushed, nodding.

When you reached your house, you turned to him. “You never told me how you got that.” you said, pointing to the hole in his shirt that had been where the wound was.

He winced as a shaft of sunlight lanced through the thin foliage of the edge of the woods. “I need to go,” he said. “If you want, I’ll come back tonight, once the sun’s gone down.”

"I’d like that," you said, surprised that you meant it. He smiled with as much surprise as you felt. Impulsively, you stood on your toes to kiss him goodbye.

He slowly backed away to go into the treeline, staring at you with interest the whole time. Just before he disappeared, a thought dawned on you. “Wait!” You called. “What’s your name?”

"Yongguk," he answered, then vanished behind a tree.

"I’ll see you tonight, Yongguk," you smiled.