chapter 1 | smeared blood

Mingyu doesn't want to feed on the defenseless but sometimes there's no choice.

His way of life isn't easy. He never asked for any of this. The mere sight of meat use to make him sickly, but now without the red liquid to clench his thirst, he wouldn't be alive. Mingyu hated this and he hated himself.

Mingyu, and everyone around him lived in a world where you couldn't trust anyone. Your neighbor could be a witch and poisoned your afternoon tea without you never knowing until you can’t breathe and your throwing up into your toilet. Of course, throughout the hundreds and thousands of years people have learned to cope and fit their needs into everyday life. Nowadays, most vampire's bought blood at the corner store so they wouldn't have to physically bite someone and most witches practiced spells on livestock instead of actual people. Werewolves and all the other sorts stayed out of human's business and politics and humans did the same to the other species.

As expected, there are some people-creatures that wish to try and live a life as humanly as possible, ignoring their needs until last second. Refusing to be seen buying drinking blood in public so others know what they are and deciding to do late night stalking once in a while and confining themselves in their homes when full moons appear because they don't want to been seen buying their monthly medicine to stop their uncontrollable transformations.

Mingyu was part of the small population that starved their needs and withheld from the natural acts of their species to lead a more normal and human life.

Most vampires come from generations and generations of old blood lines passed through their family but some have a completely different story. Some, like Mingyu, are turned through other methods. The memories of that night are still vivid in his mind. The reports on the news were all completely wrong saying he was 'kidnapped' and 'ually abused'. He would never tell another soul what had happened that night. Maybe he was violated but quite not ually abused. He can still remember the pain coursing throughout his whole and the pain he felt deep in his bones. The marks from that vampires sharp, sharp fangs still remain embedded in his sickly pale skin and his young mind.

Maybe the reason Mingyu pursued a more humane life was because he was once human. He holds on as tightly as he can to the foreign thrilling feeling of human pleasures that slips away farther everyday.

It was around midnight and the usually busy city streets of Seoul were now practically empty. He watched a figure slightly smaller in height then himself from the shadows of the alleyways. The only light source was the pale glow of the street lamps and the glimmer of the moon. Mingyu couldn't mess this up or he'd be dead by tomorrow morning, not able to withstand the sun light due to possessing no energy.

The boy seemed pretty weak on Mingyu's terms, meaning he would be a quick and easy target. Probably a high school student coming home late from a study session. Even though it seemed a little late for a student to be going home and he wasn't wearing a uniform, Mingyu decided not to think about it. He couldn't think about it. Not with being able to hear the flow of the boys blood pulsing through his veins and the sound of his heartbeat radiating through Mingyu's eardrums. He couldn't wait anymore as his canine teeth slowly sharpened.

Faster than any human could ever move, Mingyu appeared in front of the boy. The boy, who had his head down, watching his feet hit the pavement, walked right into Mingyu's chest and stumbled backwards a little.

"I-I'm sorry, are yo-" He began in a deeper voice then Mingyu had thought he would have but stopped when he raised his head, suddenly paralyzed. The boys eyes widened as he stepped backwards, slowly at first but growing quicker by the second. Mingyu studied his features as he stood paralyzed. A small high positioned nose, dark narrow eyes, and a thin top lip with a little more plump lower lip. He seemed much older then Mingyu himself feature wise. Maybe this wasn’t the best target after all.

He obviously planned this very poorly because soon his back hit the cold brick wall of a building and the thing in front of him was closing in on him.

Mingyu held the boys shoulders down firmly and pressed his shoulder blades against the side of the building. A wave of lust swarmed through him as he leaned in towards the smooth white skin that wasn't as nearly as pale as his. The boy tensed in his grip and squeezed his eyes shut so tightly he saw black dots when Mingyu's fangs grazed his pulse. He flailed his limbs, attempting to push the other away from him because he felt like he was going to throw up everything in his body. His average human strength was nothing compared to Mingyu’s enhanced vampire strength.

"P-please. What are you doing? This is illegal." The boy whined in a panicked tone so unfitting for the deepness of his voice. Mingyu would be lying if he said he didn't feel sorry but he had no other choice.

The boy choked out something between and moan and a cry when Mingyu sunk his sharp fangs into the blood stream flowing through his veins near his collarbones. Mingyu couldn't help but moan and on the skin around his fangs because finally receiving blood, that tasted oh-so good after a long time had never felt better. He had began to drink much more than he had ever intended in the first place because soon he started to pant and moan against the boys skin as his blood filled his mouth and dripped down his lips. When the boy started to shake much more noticeably than before, Mingyu took this as a sign to finally pull back.

Mingyu looked at the boy, still in a high from the sensation of finally feeding as his blood dripped from the corners of his mouth, his teeth now turning back to normal. Two deep bite marks punctured the boys neck and blood was smeared where Mingyu and . With wide eyes, the boys knees gave out but Mingyu reached out a hand before he could touch the ground. He continued to stare into Mingyu's eyes in shock, not knowing what to do.

Violently pulling out of Mingyu’s hold, the stranger grabbed his neck where he was bitten.

"I needed the blood." Mingyu apologized in an very unapologetic and slurred tone. Even though his words were cold and blunt, they were nothing but the truth.

The boy's face turned stern even though his breathing was still uneven and ragged. He sneered, holding the cracks between the bricks for support as his body shook. Even this small act of the pads of his fingers against the bare brick made him feel like running and riding in his room. Who knows what has been on these walls?

Mingyu was still a bit dizzy from the blood.

The boys face was turning paler and paler and his lips were turning a beautiful shade of lavender and his eyelids were being forced down. Mingyu swears he didn't mean to take that much blood.

Mingyu didn’t have a valid answer on his reasoning. He just wanted to be human. But it never occurred to him that maybe this was even worse than what he was trying to escape. At this moment, Mingyu was probably weaker than the stranger as his footing wavered and he stepped to try and regain balance. He couldn’t find the energy to flee yet with the eyes of the stranger seeming to stare right through him.

Maybe because he was just tired and this was too overwhelming and he didn’t know what he was doing, his eyes watered and tears dripped down his cheeks. Another side effect from tasting fresh blood, heightened senses.

At that moment, the stranger saw the frightened and helpless little boy Mingyu really was.

“Leave. I’ll call the police.” The stranger choked out.

Mingyu took one look at the boys pale face and fled. He ran as fast as he could ever so he would never, ever have to see that person again. He hated himself.

When Mingyu reached his apartment complex, he hauled himself all the way up the stairs to the ninth floor. Rummaging in his pockets with his hand, he pulled out a single key and unlocked the cheap wood door. The hinges squeaked as he pushed the door open with his body and closed it with the heel of his foot as he walked in.