“So, do you?”

It is one rare occasion when Jongin decides to have dinner at home, using his long oak table, with the brightly lit chandelier lighting up the spacious dining room.

Jongin slices on his roasted beef, surveying the meat with a huge amount of concentration. Human food does not affect a vampire’s well-being, does not sate their stomach or give the amount of nutrients it usually provides on a real human being. Everything that a vampire’s body needs is all packed in one food: blood. It’s just that, bad habits are difficult to get rid of. Jongin likes eating back when he was still a human and the idea of taking that away from his daily routine is unthinkable.

“The beef is tenderer this time.” Jongin comments. Sehun sighs and continues chewing on his food. It seems like Jongin has no plan answering his question. “I’ll mention it to the cook, master.”

The vampire nods and wipes his mouth with the table napkin. “There are only three emotions a vampire feels.”

Sehun pretends that he is not so eager to hear what Jongin is about to say. To his dismay, the vampire doesn’t continue, just drinks on his wine glass.

“What are those?” Sehun urges, biting on a piece of meat in an attempt to muffle his curiosity. Jongin shoots him a disapproving look, either for speaking with his mouth full or for asking too much questions. Sehun avoids his gaze.

“Hunger is one, which is the most frequent to be honest,” Jongin finally says, reaching over for his gelato. Sehun wants to say abstract emotions is what he’s asking but doesn’t. Instead, he stands up to deliver his master’s desert.

“Then there’s anger,” Jongin gestures for Sehun to go back to his seat and finish his meal. This is one of the things Sehun is thankful for. Despite supposedly being a slave, Jongin lets him eat with him on the same table, lets him speak and ask questions as long as he keeps his boundaries, and all in all, Jongin pretty much lets Sehun do what he wants for as long as he never fails his duties. Jongin is a generous master. Sehun has heard stories of slaves who are not so lucky.

“And lust.” He finally finishes, the same time he’s finished with the last piece of his gelato. Sehun is supposed to ask if his master wants more but the words stay frozen on his throat, having heard of the last answer to his question. Sehun looks up from his plate of food to meet Jongin’s gaze. He swallows the vegetable even though it’s still slightly unchewed in his mouth. “You don’t feel love?”

Jongin laughs as if he could not believe Sehun is really asking him this. “When you’re turned into a vampire, you don’t feel anything at all. You lose that ability in exchange for the superior things a regular individual isn’t capable of. We don’t even have heartbeats; we don’t experience that rapid heart beating you humans feel you’re in love. Now tell me, how do you expect us to feel love?”

---

“Sehun!” Jongin snaps a finger, his face annoyed and exasperated at the same time. It seems that he has been talking to Sehun for quite a while now without getting any response. Jongin confirms this with, “You’ve been spacing out.”

“I’m sorry,” Sehun bows his head in an apology. Jongin waves it off and pushes the cart from Sehun’s grasp instead. They are on a supermarket, on the section of beverages. The last minute Sehun is aware of their pushcart; it barely has supplies on it. But now, there is only a small spot left in the corner, probably for beer.

Jongin is one of the largest stockholders of half of the most popular and largest Casino Hotels in Las Vegas. But he has not lost his freedom along with his power. Jongin is cunning and smart, working on the background and not showing his face to any client or investors. He is most likely the only richest businessman who can still go to a cheap club without assassins on his , or without being recognized by anyone. That is why he can buy his groceries in broad daylight, metaphorically because vampires hate sun.

“As I was saying,” Jongin speaks, expecting Sehun to already be on his back. He’s not wrong. “Where did we buy that scone again? I remember it to be in a coffee shop—Starbucks or Coffee—coffee something?”

“Coffee Bean,” Sehun supplies, loving how he gets to give Jongin what he doesn’t have, even if it’s just the name of the coffee shop he likes getting his snack from.

“Ah, yes.” He hums in agreement, picking a Red Bull from the supermarket’s freezer. Sehun frowns. “May I know what you need that for?”

Even though Jongin is generally kind for a master to his slave, he still doesn’t want to be so casual in his conversations with him. There is always this distinct borderline between a master and a slave, and Sehun doesn’t want to risk crossing that.

“It’s for you,” Jongin fills the empty space on the cart with bottles of Red Bull. “You’ve been spacey and gloomy lately. You need energy.”

It’s got nothing to do with the lack of energy Sehun wants to say but of course, doesn’t. He nods instead, counting the bottles on the cart and more of the bottles Jongin is putting in it. Jongin looks like he wants to purge Sehun with energy drinks.

“I just don’t want you to get sick.”

Sehun knows Jongin is stating this as a matter-of-fact, thinking of the repercussions that will hinder his work if Sehun is rendered incompetent. This doesn’t stop the surge of emotions the slave is feeling though. It is a mix of gratitude and joy, because Jongin did notice something is amiss with Sehun. But at the same time, he feels that pang of sorrow of being just a servant to Jongin; the massive walls that separate the two of them feel like closing in on him, trapping him in a cocoon of despondency and preventing him to feel anything else but pity for himself. Even when his parents died, even when he had to live off garbage food or steal from businessmen, he never felt this kind of misery and helplessness, he never felt so trapped and powerless to hoist himself up from the pool of his own despair. He tries to choke back a sob and fails.

Jongin turns his head on his direction. “Are you crying?”

“No—yes—” Jongin doesn’t like it when he lies, and Sehun doesn’t want his master to think he’s a PMS-ing teen, so he settles with a safe answer. “—maybe.”

Jongin looks like he’s about to ask why, looks like he wants to comfort Sehun with whatever he’s going through. But instead of doing either, he digs for his handkerchief on his pocket and hands it over to Sehun who is trying so hard to think of anything but his misery. Sehun accepts it quietly and clenches his jaw. He really needs to stop putting his personal feelings when he’s at work.

First, Jongin doesn’t even know how emotions work, for he has long been devoid of one. He doesn’t even know how to comfort a crying teenage boy, dammit.

Second, he’s not obligated to do it.

---

“Where is Jongin, dogsbody*?” the slender blonde jeers at Sehun. This woman, Sehun decides, is by far, his most detested vampire among all other. And he has the feeling she shares the same sentiment. Apparently, this girl lived most of her life in London, therefore adopting the natives’ usual fair skin, platinum blonde hair, specks of freckles on her rosy cheeks and a pretty British accent. Sehun pushes down his hostility and tries to be as polite as he can. “I’m sorry, milady, but the master does not wish to see anyone right now.”

She flicks her soft straight hair in annoyance. “Well, I’m not just anyone.”

“I’m really sorry Lady Jung, but you can come back some other time when the master is already in the mood for visitors.” Sehun really isn’t sorry. The words to pacify her displeasure taste so bitter on his tongue.

“I don’t care about his mood and I’m not a visitor,” She sidesteps Sehun’s body, but Sehun is quick to block her path. Red colours her cheeks as her patience decreases. “Move, mortal.”

Sehun does not budge from his place. She puts a perfectly manicured finger under his chin to tilt his face upward. Her nail digs painfully on his skin. “You know I can snap your body into two if I wanted to. I should’ve done that a long time ago but I was saving that for Jongin’s pleasure when he finally decides to get rid of you.” Her voice holds that same sweet tone, and if Sehun isn’t so annoyed and scared at the same time, he would’ve admit that her accent is a lovely tune to his ears. There is also something about what she said that melts down the resentment Sehun feels. Instead, it is replaced with that gnawing feeling, always on the back of his mind that Jongin would dispose of him anytime he deems it important or if he got tired of him and decides he is not of use anymore.

Sehun doesn’t even protest when Krystal Jung reaches the third step of stairs, walking past him without a sound. He hears a bedroom door open and turns to see Jongin on his maroon robe, walking on the carpeted hallway with a frown on his face. “What is this commotion about?”

“Master, I’m sorry—”

“Your slave is annoying and ugly, he won’t even let me see you,” Krystal begins, totally abandoning the act of walking and instead leaping in the third floor where Jongin’s bedroom resides. Her long hair flows behind her back along with her royal blue dress. She tugs on Jongin’s robe, exposing half of tanned flesh and firm muscles. “Get rid of him in front of me.” She orders.

Jongin doesn’t budge and studies her face carefully. Sehun is more afraid that Jongin would adhere to Krystal’s wish than the fact the he might die any second now.

“Now.” Krystal presses. When Jongin doesn’t make a move to obey her wish, she turns to Sehun’s direction and says, “If you won’t do it, I’ll do you a favour and taint my new manicured fingers.” She jumps from the third floor and appears right in front of Sehun’s immobile figure. She raises a hand to seize Sehun’s neck. He closes his eyes, thinking this is it; she will finally deliver my long postponed death. He will die in the hands of the girl he hates the most, literally. He waits for the painful digging of her long nails but nothing came. He opens his eyes to see that Jongin is now in between him and Krystal, blocking her from his view with his hands outstretched to hold her hands in place. Sehun gasps. He didn’t even feel or hear Jongin’s presence. But now he does, when he says, “Enough.”

Sehun tilts his head to the side to see the woman’s face. She takes her hands from Jongin’s grip, a scowl settled on her face. “I’m already doing you a favour.”

“I will get rid of him when I feel like it,” Jongin answers, moving away from the boy. Sehun struggles to remember if Jongin was ever there in front of him to save his life, or if it was just some of his daydream, only so vivid and leaving a scent of Jongin under his nose.

“Plus, I really like the new design of your nails. Please don’t ruin it for something so insignificant.”

And that is all Sehun needs to confirm that it really happened. It’s probably better if he just died, because the words that Jongin uttered are more painful than the probable death he would have experienced from the hands of Krystal Jung.

---

“You know, it’s not really advisable to have feelings for a vampire. Especially if said vampire is named Kim Jongin.”

Sehun is in one of the mixed parties held by another vampire friend of Jongin named Joonmyeon. It is one of those parties where only beautiful men and women were invited, so Sehun still feels out of place despite having humans swirling around him. Parties like this are for show, vampires are to feed on mortals in front of everyone. It is a competition on who will charm the most number of humans. A spectacular gift awaits the vampire who wins.

It is actually a risky game for vampires. They have to make sure that every human in the party will be fed on by a vampire, put under their spell so they will not remember a thing the moment they wake up. But it’s the danger of the situation that puts thrill on the vampires, making their feast taste sweeter and more rewarding than their normal feeding.

There are only three purposes for a vampire to bite a human: the first one is what they use for feeding, once they charmed the human, they can feed on them until they’re passed out, the blood automatically stopping its flow when it reached the dangerous level of draining the blood out of the human, therefore preventing vampires from killing its prey. Once they wake up from their slumber, they will not remember anything and go back to their old routine like nothing happened.

Second is when turning a human into a vampire: when the blood stopped flowing from the human’s body, the human has to drink some of the vampire’s blood, which will enable the blood to flow on his body again. When it finally does, that’s when the vampire completely drains the human out of blood and make sure he’s dead before making him drink his blood again and waits for him to rise from the dead as an actual vampire.

A vampire’s blood stops the blood clotting in the human’s veins, enabling him to empty that person of his old human blood. Once a vampire mixes his blood with a human’s, that human’s blood will not taste like food to the vampire anymore, therefore preventing a vampire from draining a human out of blood for the sole purpose of feeding. The process of draining one’s blood is purely for turning a mortal into an immortal.

The vampire books written by human make the situation very complicated, creating a conflict of people’s death through draining of bloods or accidentally turning a human into a vampire. But the real thing does not really work that way. Vampires can’t kill a human by draining them out of blood nor can they turn them into a vampire without their consent. That’s why real vampires have lived through centuries without revealing their nature and getting along with humans well.

And the third one is for binding a human to the vampire. A human has to drink a vampire’s blood without being bitten yet. After he’s done that, it is the only time a vampire can drink from the human’s blood, completing the binding process. It is a blood-to-blood covenant that signifies a human is bound to his master’s wish for as long as he lives. Slaves that drink their master’s blood lives longer than a regular human but are not immortal. They die through the normal aging process, only slower. A vampire cannot force a human to be his slave if he does not want to, and vice versa. They have to be in the same page if they want the binding to work out. A slave can offer his blood to his master, and it will still taste like food for the vampire, unlike in the process of turning. They are bound to love only one master for eternity and would not disobey them not because they can’t but because they simply don’t want to.

Vampires, on the other hand, can have as much slaves as they want. They are bound to no one and do not love anyone, unlike humans. If in any case, the vampire dies before the slave in an unexpected incident, the human can continue with his life without any recollection of being acquainted with vampires.

Sehun has not been bitten by Jongin for any of those reasons. In fact, he has never been bitten in his life. Except maybe the mosquitoes on the old warehouse he used to stay at. He remains a slave without the binding, and he’s not of use for Jongin’s appetite either. So what Joonmyeon says about falling in love with Jongin is true. And Sehun already knows this for a long time. It is only because of Joonmyeon’s judgment that it is better to rub salt into an injury to make it heal faster that Sehun is hearing this. “He does not want to bind you as his slave, and you’re obviously not his taste to feed on you,” he says for the umpteenth time. “And you’re also aware that he will never turn a human into a vampire again.”

“You need to stop it.”

Joonmyeon is one of the most cordial vampires he’s ever met. He talks to him during those times Sehun feels out of place. And even though the only things he says hurt Sehun, he’s still thankful for the company.

“You should return with your guests.” He says instead, smiling weakly and gesturing to the glass of champagne on his hand that will serve as his company when Joonmyeon leaves.

Joonmyeon gives him a smile and a pat on his head. “The best thing to do is to bind with another vampire. You wouldn’t even remember what it feels to love Jongin. That’s the easiest way out.”

Sehun is not sure if the easiest way out is what he wants.

---

Sehun is driving towards the state of Colorado, Jongin riding shotgun and muttering the lyrics of Panic! At the Disco’s Nicotine.

They are three hours away from the hotel they’re going to stay at, and Jongin is not sure if he will find someone to feed on in that place. Sehun knows Jongin is hungry, he is irritable and there are lines on his face that are usually not there. Sehun shoots Jongin worried glances every minute. This time, Jongin finally snaps and barks at him to, “Stay focused on the road!”

Sehun grips his wheel and does as told. But the anxiety for Jongin’s condition does not subside as he does so.

So after their fifth stop on a restaurant in an attempt to find Jongin someone to feed on, and they come out empty-handed, Sehun parks the car in a secluded area and unfastens the first three button of his polo. “Just drink my blood.” He finally voices out what he had wanted to say from the very beginning since he became Jongin’s slave.

Jongin looks so frustrated and tired as he studies him, looking at the expanse of pale skin on Sehun’s neck. He leans forward, baring his tongue, his fangs slightly pricking on the sensitive flesh. Sehun closes his eyes and anticipates the sensation. Finally, after waiting so long, he’ll finally get to be of use to Jongin. There would finally be some of his blood flowing on Jongin’s veins—

And then Sehun feels the prickling sensation gone, Sehun throws his eyes open to find Jongin glowering at him. “Didn’t I tell you to stay focused on the road?”

“But you’re hungry! I—”

“Stop worrying about me and mind you own business! I can—”

“No you can’t!” Sehun shouts, finally overstepping the boundar