Hands gently ran down long tendrils of gold that ran past shoulders. A soft hum of a lullaby escaped blood-red lips as eyes watched the lazy fingers silken tresses. They took in the gentle contours that shaped the younger one’s face as they observed her sleep. Sooyeon bid her time as she sat beside her slumbering sister. Thoughts of her sister’s unspoken struggle plagued her mind as she fondled Soojung.

The younger one remained unmoving, eyes closed and breaths even. Soojung was deep in her sleep to feel her sister’s gentle caresses. She was dead to the world, deaf to Sooyeon’s coos and hymns. She was in a dreamless state as her tired mind succumbed to exhaustion. Soojung’s body felt at ease under Sooyeon’s care.

Soojung stirred in her sleep, frowning as she grunted. Sooyeon, concerned, looked over her sister, cupping the younger one’s forehead only to feel the heat from it. For a moment, the older vampire was alarmed only to see Soojung calm down and her fever go down as fast as it had come. It was strange, but Sooyeon was distracted from her ponderings when the watch tower bells of the castle rang to signal the arrival of company.

“Open the gates!” Shouts came from the courtyard and the huge creak of the gargantuan gates was heard not long after. Sooyeon shifted her sights to the window overlooking the courtyard before her gaze went back to her sleeping sister. Leaning down and placing a light peck on Soojung’s forehead, Sooyeon quietly ambled to the opened window to see her twin’s ebon destrier, along with its rider, march through the opened gates flanked by a company of knights on both sides. She watched as Taeyeon patted her black horse before looking up to her at the window, sensing Sooyeon’s presence from afar.

The twins smiled at each other like lovers meeting after a long time. Then, Taeyeon broke the eye contact and entered the Keep. Sooyeon turned away from the window and situated herself by her sister’s side once more. She knew her twin would soon slip into the bedchamber to greet her if none would distract Taeyeon with other urgent matters.

A knock came at once and Sooyeon sensed her twin on the other side of the door. “Come in, Taengoo.” Sooyeon beaconed as her eyes landed on the opening door where Taeyeon now stood. The eldest of the vampires smiled and walked towards the bed in quick yet discreet steps until she found herself by Sooyeon’s side. Leaning down to plant a kiss on Sooyeon’s lips, Taeyeon asked of her younger sibling’s state. “Is something wrong with Soojung?”

“She’s exhausted.” Sooyeon was quick and concise in her reply, “She has been listless for days ever since we came back. She had a skirmish with Sooyoung not long before you came and she won.”

“That is good.” Taeyeon smiled, only to falter when she saw that Sooyeon remained sullen, “Did something else happen?”

“When Sooyoung struck her, Soojung felt no pain. She never reacted to anything.” Sooyeon gave her twin a worried glance, “I fear that she is struggling with something, Taengoo.” Taeyeon could do nothing but console her dear twin. She sat beside Sooyeon and kissed her crown before standing to move on the other side of Soojung’s bed.   

“She might be adjusting to her new powers. It probably worries her.”

Sooyeon caressed her youngest sister’s hair, “I hope you’re right.”

Taeyeon smiled reassuringly at her twin, before her eyes landed on their slumbering youngest. “Soojung-ah, what worries you, worries us. I hope you won’t bear the burden alone.” Sooyeon watched and listened as her older twin began fondling Soojung’s golden hair in a gentle manner. Resting her hand on Soojung’s head, Taeyeon tried to enter the younger vampire’s mind. Sooyeon gasped at what her twin had set out to do.

“Taeyeon?!”

“I want to know what troubles our sister, Sooyeon. Bring me back if I take too long.”

Sooyeon frowned at her sister’s words, but nodded nonetheless.   

Seeing Sooyeon concede, Taeyeon’s eyes turned white as she infiltrated Soojung’s mind.

+++

“I don’t think I can do this.”

“Yes, you can. You have mastered one, what makes it difficult for you to master another?”

“I cannot.”

“You can, Soojung.”

Voices.

Taeyeon heard them vividly as she entered Soojung’s mind. The younger girl sounded troubled while the other voice tried to help her. The elder vampire landed in a vast meadow where the trees lightly swayed in the wind while the flowers bloomed amongst the green grass. Her landing caused Soojung to turn her head while another figure seated on a tree branch nearby merely watched her coming.

Taking one cautious step closer, Taeyeon noted that the other figure accompanying her youngest sister was a deity – Summer.

“You have come.” Summer addressed her directly.

Taeyeon walked closer to her youngest sibling and smiled momentarily to Soojung before facing the deity. “I was troubled by what Sooyeon had told me about my youngest sister. Was it by your doing?”

Summer shrugged,