Five years had passed since the newborn vampire had crashed into the halls of the church Taekwoon and his coven had chosen to take shelter in. In the early days of his arrival, Taekwoon silently wondered if taking Jaejoong in had been a good idea. After all, he was another mouth to feed, and his inexperience would be more of a hindrance than an asset.

As time went on, Taekwoon realized how wrong his initial thoughts had been.

Though it had taken some time to teach the newborn how to feed without killing or infecting every human he drank from, once he’d learned, Jaejoong was an incredibly useful asset. His beauty was unparalleled, even by vampire standards. His skin glowed like moonlight, and his hair looked as though it had been spun from gold. Most beautiful of all, however, were his leaf green eyes. They shone with an easy, warm spark, making it seem as though everything was going to be alright. Humans lined up for him, and all he had to do was take his pick. Taekwoon envied him. But Taekwoon’s resentment turned into relief upon realizing he could now divide gathering duties between him and Jaejoong. Charming humans could get exhausting. He was glad to have someone who could help him in the matter.

Though his enchanting abilities made him beyond useful, it was his power that made him invaluable. Some humans had abilities considered above average, admirable even. Virtuosos, geniuses, prodigies and skilled athletes were looked upon with respect and pride in the mortal world. When carried over to the vampire world however, those admirable assets became enhanced, turning into supernatural powers even Taekwoon couldn’t explain – though he had one of those powers. As a mortal, singing had been his skill. Now, his voice could enchant and soften the hearts of even the most introverted of people. Jaejoong on the other hand had something far more intriguing and mysterious.

“How do you do it?” Taekwoon had asked.

“I don’t know,” he’d replied, the honesty clear in his voice. “I just sort of think about doing something, and before I do it, I just see all the cards fall into place. Kind of like dominoes,”

“Could you do this when you were human?”

“I suppose...not like I can now. I was always really good at guessing what would happen next. Maybe it’s what you said; my best traits, enhanced,”

Jaejoong’s uncanny ability to guess what came next had turned into precognition upon rebirth. Several times before Taekwoon had come to the realization of just what Jaejoong could do, the newborn had steered their group away from danger on several occasions. The one time he couldn’t, everything he’d told Taekwoon mere hours before came to pass right before their eyes. They’d almost died that day, but Jaejoong’s power had pulled through for them, finding the only possible escape route. Taekwoon had been scared of his power at first, but Jaejoong showed no signs of ever using it against him. He only hoped it would stay that way.

A rustle and the softest scuff of a footstep alerted Taekwoon to the presence of one of his coven mates before his scent even reached him. He turned, setting his face into a mask of stone.

“I told you to knock, Jaehwan,” he said, his voice a soft growl.

The silver eyed vampire smiled sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Sorry, hyung,”

Despite his irritation at being interrupted from his thoughts, Taekwoon couldn’t help but find it in his heart to forgive the vampire. He brushed it off with a simple wave of his fingers as he yanked the chair from under his desk, planting himself on it and looking up at the vampire.

“What do you need?” Taekwoon questioned.

The tiniest of smiles and a quirk of his eyebrow told the elder vampire all he needed to know. Despite his best efforts to keep the issue under control, it seemed to be failing horribly.

“Jaejoong’s acting weird,” Jaehwan said, not stating the plainly obvious, looking away from his hyung, nervous energy making his fingers twitch. “He keeps moving around his room and stuff. He won’t sit still,”

Taekwoon hummed, chewing on his thumbnail as he pondered over Jaehwan’s announcement. Though Jaejoong often behaved abstractedly, it was rarely anything to be concerned about. When he was anxious on the other hand, it generally meant something was about to go horribly wrong; something they’d have to take great lengths to avoid.

“I’ll bet something’s coming,” Jaehwan said, suddenly clearing the space between him and Taekwoon, straddling his lap with little hesitation. “I tried asking, but he’s not telling me anything,”

Stiffening at the sudden weight, Taekwoon resisted the urge to shove his coven mate off him. It was a normal exchange between them. From the moment he’d found Jaehwan alone and lost in the woods and taken him into his coven, the young vampire always enjoyed planting himself on Taekwoon’s lap. He never spoke of his past or even how he came to be alone in those woods in the first place, either dodging the subject or ignoring the question altogether. Taekwoon was curious, but he never pushed the cheerful vampire to talk. The thought of seeing that smile disappear because of bad memories made him feel sad in ways he didn’t understand.

Jaehwan clasped one of Taekwoon’s hands in his, pressing a finger into his lips. His silver eyes pleaded to him silently, the smallest furrow in his brow the only sign of his real desperation.

“I told you this would happen,” Taekwoon grumbled, though he was already feeling his blood run hotter. “I shouldn’t have even let it start,”

“Hyung,” Jaehwan pouted slightly, squeezing his hand a little tighter. “I tried. I promise I did. It’s been a week...please?”

The elder could admit, he wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d once been. When Taekwoon had originally started allowing Jaehwan to approach him like this, it was to help him with the madness that seemed never ending. Jaehwan recovered to a degree, but Taekwoon had been ignoring the effects the younger vampire was having on him. It was only when Jaehwan was approaching him near daily, his silver eyes wild with longing did Taekwoon realized he’d taken it too far. He forced Jaehwan to cut back and see him less often, and this was the result. A faint need, a desperate whimper – all that was left of a cry for mercy.

“Tell me why,” Taekwoon insisted. “Why did you come back?”

“I just want a taste,” Jaehwan mumbled. “It’s been weighing on me for days...”

Though he’d asked his questions, Taekwoon had known he wouldn’t be able to refuse the moment the young vampire had stepped into his room. Jaehwan’s addiction was fading, but Taekwoon had barely had the willpower to put an end to it, having been just as out of control as he was. The experience never failed to make him feel numbingly high. The mere mention of it happening made the blood in his veins boil with excitement he refused to reveal on his face.

“Okay,” Taekwoon said quietly, reaching for the collar of his shirt, tugging it out of the way just enough to expose the pale skin of his throat.

“Thank you,” Jaehwan’s relieved breath tickled the side of his neck just before the sharp fangs pierced his flesh. Letting out a muffled groan, Taekwoon slid his fingers into the younger’s tangle of copper hair. His blood rushed through him, bubbling between Jaehwan’s lips, a blissful fog trying to snatch his mind away from him. He felt Jaehwan’s fingers tug at the dark locks at the back of his head and growled in warning. He couldn’t afford to lose control in this situation. It could cause a downward spiral back into the nightmare they’d had many years ago. Though Jaehwan saw no problem with ‘a tiny little hyung addiction’, Taekwoon saw it as the worst possible outcome. Willpower was the only thing that saved him from an endless, pride ruining lifestyle. He could never allow himself to become dependent on another vampire.

As he tugged Jaehwan’s lips from his throat, Taekwoon caught the smell of his blood, sweet and pungent in the air. A whirlwind whipped through his mind, the urge to just taste rushing into his mind.

“Y-You bite, hyung,” Jaehwan breathed. “It’s been a long time for you,”

Indeed it had, Taekwoon realized. Maybe three weeks he’d been resisting the terrible urge that was Jaehwan’s blood. Though mortal blood was enough to satiate any hunger he felt, the blood of another vampire was like the sweetest manna the earth could provide. It was an easy thing to become addicted to, and really, the mere feeling of feeding off a brother or a sister was enough to quicken the development of the need. It wasn’t necessary for survival, but the arousal from the experience itself made it seem like it was.

Though Jaehwan had fed from him several times over the last few weeks, Taekwoon found that this time, he couldn’t hold himself back. Jaehwan’s blood spilled across his tongue, the heat inside him reaching a peak that made his head spin. He couldn’t breathe, and frankly, he didn’t want to. The other’s moans were shameless as hands roughly gripped his hair, Taekwoon’s name sliding between his lips in breathless gasps. He wanted to bite harder, drink more and savour every second, but the moments those thoughts crossed his mind, he tore himself from Jaehwan’s neck. The younger quickly caught his face between his hands, his blood covered lips peeled back in a smile as his silver eyes gazed into Taekwoon’s own golden ones. Silver and gold, he thought bitterly. It was like some horribly convenient cliché. It pissed him off, really.

Jaehwan’s tongue s out to the blood off Taekwoon’s lips. Grimacing, he tried to flinch away, but he quickly found himself the blood from the younger’s mouth instead, making him even more irritated than before. Jaehwan giggled with delight, and Taekwoon couldn’t handle another second. He pushed him off his lap and stood up, brushing his hair back into place with his fingers, trying to ignore the sweet numbness in his body and the lingering taste of Jaehwan’s blood on his tongue.

“Thanks, hyung,” Jaehwan’s voice said cheerily, his hand quickly brushing along his arm before he turned and practically skipped from the room with the childish air that now surrounded him. These encounters always left Jaehwan happy. They always left Taekwoon angry.

Regaining his composure, Taekwoon shoved the chair back beneath the desk. Fighting the urge to pursue Jaehwan, he grabbed his cloak and yanked it on, trying to focus on something else. Figuring he should probably check on Jaejoong, he did what he could to focus on that instead. He pushed his way out of his room and into the hallways of the dilapidated old mansion they’d chosen to call their newest home. They’d resided there for several months, and it remained wonderfully peaceful. He’d just started down the only intact but creaky staircase when a vampire emerged from a doorway at the foot of it, reading something clutched in his hands. The shock of snow white hair told Taekwoon exactly who the vampire was before he even lifted his head, his violet eyes meeting his as he descended down the steps.

“Hyung,” Wonshik greeted in his silky baritone, snapping the book closed and smiling.

Taekwoon merely nodded in greeting, stopping in front of the white haired vampire. “Where’s Jaejoong?”

“In his room, I think,” Wonshik scratched the back of his head. “I think he’s doing his process of elimination thing. He keeps talking to himself and pacing circles,”

Taekwoon just nodded, feeling more than a little worried now.

Wonshik suddenly smiled, his signature crooked grin sliding across his features. “You smell like Jaehwan,”

“Get out of it,” Taekwoon growled, giving Wonshik a rough shove and stepping past him.

The snowy haired vampire laughed, loud and proud. “You don’t have to be so angry!”

Taekwoon said nothing as he marched away from the vampire. The sound of his laugh faded away as he walked, but even then, he couldn’t hide the bitterness he felt. He silently began to blame Jaehwan for the mess. This never would’ve happened if he hadn’t practically followed him all over looking like a kicked puppy. This never would’ve happened if Jaehwan hadn’t whispered in his ear and touched him in ways he never thought he’d be touched. The childish vampire had stolen that precious thing that made Taekwoon unreachable. Without realizing what he was doing, he’d allowed Jaehwan to tear down his walls and reach those areas he never wanted plundered. He’d lost control of himself during that time, and it had taken even longer to realize what had happened. It still seemed like the epiphany had come too late. The taste of Jaehwan in his mouth was proof of that.

Taekwoon heard Jaejoong long before he saw him. The rough footsteps and rapid mutterings filtered down the hallway, and several times, Taekwoon heard the distinct sound of paper being rifled around and a chair grinding across a rotting wooden floor. When he finally stood in the doorway, he saw the golden haired vampire scribbling roughly on a piece of old, yellowed paper, his fingers trembling so badly his writing was a jumbled mess. Taekwoon silently thought the issue was a lot worse than he could’ve imagined.

He’d stood there for a full minute before Jaejoong even realized he was there. He didn’t notice until he turned around with an angry growl, his shockingly green eyes locking onto him. He froze, his mouth falling open in genuine surprise. Taekwoon couldn’t believe it. Surprising Jaejoong was impossible. He knew what was going to happen long before it actually did. But it was quite obvious that he hadn’t foreseen Taekwoon’s appearance at his bedroom door.

“Tae-” he cut himself off with a swallow. “H-Hyung,” he stammered.

“Jaejoong, just call me Taekwoon,” he sighed. The newborn had always been nervous about using the ‘hyung’ title on him.

“Taekwoon,” he said quickly, nodding. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were coming,”

“What’s going on?” Taekwoon decided to keep things quick, getting right to the point so he didn’t beat around the bush.

Jaejoong swallowed, his eyes temporarily darting to the pile of scribble covered papers. He shoved them out of the way far too nervously, telling Taekwoon whatever was on the papers was what he’d been mulling over all this time. He didn’t want anyone looking at them.

“N-Nothing,” Jaejoong replied. “There’s just...we need to be somewhere...well...” he scratched the back of his head.

“Where?” Taekwoon questioned.

Jaejoong bit his lip, shifting from foot to foot as he seemed to think about whether to talk or not. It was a habit of his, Taekwoon had noticed. He would think about what he could say, checking and double checking the future to pick the most desirable outcome. The elder vampire hated it when Jaejoong did this, but he knew it was unavoidable. He’d probably do the same thing if he had a power like that.

“You’re just going to have to trust me,” Jaejoong said quietly, bowing his head.

What are you hiding, Taekwoon thought, gritting his teeth slightly.

“Everyone will be safe, though I know you won’t believe me,” Jaejoong went on. “We just need to be there. Please,”

“Why?”

Jaejoong fell silent once more as he contemplated his future options. Taekwoon tried not to interrupt him, though he wanted nothing more than to demand answers.

“It’s important to me,” Jaejoong mumbled. “If we don’t go, people will die. People who...people who I knew,”

Taekwoon blinked in surprise. Until this very moment, Jaejoong had never mentioned anything about his past, or the time he was a mortal. Though he’d been asked many times, he never talked about it. The only thing Taekwoon had been able to get out of him until this moment was the name of the vampire who turned him – Yunho.

“It’s more than that though,” Jaejoong said. “The vampire who turned me...he’ll be there. It’s my chance to put an end to him. I know he’s looking for me. I’ve always known it. If I can kill him, I’ll be free. Please, let’s go there,”

Taekwoon heard the tremble in his voice. “You’re not going to kill him, are you?”

Jaejoong swallowed. Then he shook his head. “Probably not, but...if I can save them, that doesn’t matter,”

“Will you be safe?”

“I’m not going to die,”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,”

“Taekwoon, please,”

The elder vampire took an angry breath, clenching and unclenching his fists.  He opened his mouth to say something more, but was quickly cut off by the younger, already knowing what he was about to say.

“I’m glad you want to keep me safe, Taekwoon,” Jaejoong smiled slightly. “But even if you say no, I’m...probably going to go anyway. I...this is something I have to do,”

“Are you sure?”

Jaejoong nodded.

Taekwoon clenched his fists in his pocket, his eyes darting to the pile of papers on the desk behind Jaejoong. Of course, he already knew what was going to happen. Jaejoong always knew. Perhaps then, he already knew that Taekwoon would follow him to whatever task he was so determined to complete. He simply couldn’t let Jaejoong go alone. Not if he was in danger.

Nodding, and turning his gaze back to the green eyed vampire, Taekwoon let out a heavy sigh. “I hate your power, Jaejoong,”

The vampire’s lips curled into a knowing smile. “I’m glad you’ll help me, Taekwoon. I really am,”

“Yeah, whatever,” Taekwoon grumbled.

Jaejoong let out a laugh like chiming bells, turning and gathering up the papers. He folded them in half and yanked a lighter out of his pocket, setting the pages ablaze and dropping them unceremoniously into an old, cracked flowerpot. The pages lit up, destroying everything Jaejoong had pondered over. Again, Taekwoon felt a surge of frustration. Jaejoong had obviously known he was planning on snatching up the papers and reading them, and to stop that completely, he’d destroyed them. Jaejoong’s unusual power was infuriating just as much as it was helpful.

“Frankly,” Jaejoong mumbled, watching the flames up the sides of the pot, “I hate my power too. But I don’t know where I’d be without it,”

Taekwoon didn’t dare ask. The dark sadness in his eyes was enough reason not to. Jaejoong knew what he was doing with every move he made. He was always certain, and he always had the answers, even if he didn’t like them. Taekwoon thought that must’ve been the worst part.

“Will everything be okay?” Taekwoon couldn’t help but ask.

“Maybe someday,” Jaejoong smiled sadly, watching the embers burn to nothing. “I think...” Then he nodded, smiling. “Yeah. You’ll be okay,”

But you won’t, will you? Taekwoon thought. He didn’t voice the question. He didn’t really want to hear Jaejoong’s answer.

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A/N: Sorry, this one took a little longer than I expected. There was actually a lot I needed to fix up in this chapter haha. But that’s really what happens when you infodump (sorry about that! If you have questions feel free to ask!) but the infodump had to be done! Some of this stuff is very important for future chapters! On top of that, I got sick, so I had little to no energy to do any sort of editing, and Easter went and closed the library (fun fact about me: I don’t have home internet HAHAHA) further pushing back the posting of this chapter. But alas, it’s here now! And I hope you liked it!

Anyway, this chapter marks the end of the introductory chapters. Characters are established, you’ve met them all, and the main problem is beginning to show itself.

Also I’m fully aware that Jaejoong is essentially a god character and could easily be classified under the ‘mary-sue’ category if he was an OC. I unintentionally made him like that at first but then just threw my hands up and was like “bleh whatever” and kept him OP. It is seriously SO HARD to write someone with precognition without spoiling the entire story!

Speaking of story spoiling, I love reading your comments and your speculations, but it’s so so hard to reply to them without spoiling what’s to come! So I hope you don’t mind if I reply simply to your comments. I really love them~ Thanks so much guys~

Long Authors Note Is Long.

TLDR: The introduction is over, and the real plot begins next chapter. Also, Jaejoong is a god character. But we love him anyway because he’s Jaejoong.

Lots of Love!

~starlitskies