Chapter Ten
Eun

Is this how they treat someone who’s making an effort to give assistance to them? I mean, I know I’m a blood drinking Cruor, but I’ve learned how to control my hunger a bit better than the others. Do they have to lock me up in a containment cell for the diseased? Are they that scared of my kind? They can’t trust someone that used to be just like them? A human?

      I cross my arms snugly over my chest, wondering once again why I decided to follow their plan. Am I mental or something?

      I close my eyes, going back to the hotel rooftop. When I woke up just an hour ago I found a handwritten note right beside me. Just looking at the handwriting I knew who it belonged to. I mentally cringe just recalling what the note had said.

Follow through with our plan or Jong Min becomes one of you.

      Those words had declared my vilest nightmare and my decision to go through with the plan or completely ignore it could possibly make the nightmare true or make it vanish.

      I lean back against the white walls of the room and clench my fingers into fists. I hate being a tool for my grandfather and his buddies to use in order to create evil and destruction, but I can’t let them do anything to Jong Min. Nothing.

      “Where’s Hyuk!? Where has the Cruor taken him!?” Slowly, I open my eyes, immediately studying the face of Dr. Park’s victim-to-be through the window. His shaggy, black hair is tangled and I’m guessing it’s from the long nights in The Compound. My eyes move on to his shockingly stunning coffee irises. To be honest, if I wasn’t a Cruor and the world hadn’t turned into darkness, then I would’ve definitely dated this guy.

      “Don’t just stand there! Tell me!” His voice rings through the speakers in the room. Even though he’s shouting into the microphone I don’t even cringe at his loudness. I stare blankly onward at his profile. Honestly, I’m sorry for what I’m about to do to the human boy and that he has no clue about it.

      “You think the Cruor kidnapped your brother?” Instantaneously, when I respond their side of the wall hushes. The surprised mask that appears and quickly disappears from the boy’s face is no shock to me. How could I even know that the one kidnapped was his brother? I shrug my own mistake to the corner and continue though.
“Who else would kidnap a human?” The boy snaps back at me.

      A smirk plants firmly on my lips. Who else would kidnap a human?
“Who else? If you don’t remember, humans used to and still kidnap other humans today.” I say to the stranger.
“I don’t believe you, Cruor. You and your monster friends kidnapped my brother. Give him back now!”  He commands as the veins in his arms pop out.
“Do you think that lowly of us?” I laugh bitterly. Why would we break into The Compound and only take one little boy? If anything we’d have taken half the population, or all. Yeah, probably the latter.

      “Anyhow, let’s look beyond what I am here.” I sigh when only silence is thrown back at me. I tilt my head up at the fluorescent lights that flicker every now and then. I wonder how long the generator down here’s going to keep up. What will happen to them all when the heat and light vanishes from their reach?
“Continue then.” The boy gestures at me.

      “I know who kidnapped your brother and I also just happen to know where they’ve taken him too.” I confess with an impassive face. No matter what, I can’t show any emotion in front of these humans, which is why it’s so challenging to not sneer down at the spark of optimism mixed in with loathing that bursts in the human’s eyes.
“Of course you do. The Cruor took him back to their headquarters. It’s not a big surprise.” I raise my eyebrows at his statement. Honestly, I’m impressed by how he could go from a fraught human who just lost his brother to a boy who means business in the aspect of family.

      “Why are you here snitching on your own kind Cruor?” The boy demands with that fiery authority blazing in his chocolate irises.
“I’ll tell you this only once more, the Cruor didn’t take your little brother. If we had the chance to kidnap one human then we would’ve ended all existence of humans in Seoul already.” I reply as I stroll up front to the glass window. It’s silly how they think a thick wall of glass could keep me contained in this room. Do they not know that glass is just as easy to walk through as air?

      I press my palm up against the glass window and glance down at my wrist. Is this the safest place they could find? If so, then humans don’t have much intellect these days.
“You can’t deny that that’s how it would be. We wouldn’t just take a single human, a scrawny little boy especially.” I continue, lifting my eyes away from my hand and to his eyes.

      “Then who’s to blame for taking my brother? I’d like to know.” The human asks. Even on the other side of glass I can sense his fear and wavering.
“That, you’ll have to wait to find out.” I finally allow myself to feel superior to the puny human. I have the cards in my hand that this boy needs to find his brother. I couldn’t have any more of an advantage than this.

      I return back to the center of the white room and cross my arms once more. The muddled and fuming expression tossed across the human’s face is unforgettable and brings me a great quantity of satisfaction.
“You have half an hour to make your decision human.” I sigh out the words in one breath.
“What decision?”

      “I’m sure everyone has already told you this, but I’ll repeat it for you. If you’re going to go after your brother the Cruor will get to you first in a matter of minutes, if not them then you’ll die from natural things because you haven’t reemerged to the surface in four months. You’d have no chance at all to find your brother if you can’t even survive by yourself.”

      The sign of defeat and reality appears on his face like I knew it would. What I’m saying is undeniably accurate. A human wouldn’t survive on the surface with blood thirsty Cruor wandering around the streets.
“So what I’m trying to say is, if you come to The Compound entrance on time I’ll help and guide you to where they’ve taken your brother.”