Chapter Text
Kyungsoo dreams of being plunged into a deep, dark sea. Air bubbles dance around him as he falls down, down, down into the depths until the light is barely visible from the surface of the water. He isn't scrambling for oxygen or panicking. A sense of calm rushes through his veins as his blurry eyes go into focus, and his cloak billows out around him, ebony ribbon cutting into his throat but causing no pain.
Like a mirage in the water, a shape—or rather a person—appears before him, and great affection claims his heart when he realizes who it is. Pale, slender hands caress his cheeks, the familiar cool touch of a ring pressing into his skin, and long, pastel blonde hair swims around him. Kyungsoo yearns to feel those silky strands between his fingers once again, but he finds himself unable to reach or touch, only watching as pink lips smile softly at him and dark eyelashes flutter open to reveal dim maroon hues. Emotion clouds in his chest and a thumb moves to wipe underneath Kyungsoo's eye, as if he could cry underwater.
Those perfect lips part.
"It is time to wake up, Kyungsoo."
His eyes snap open, and Kyungsoo is immediately met with darkness. With stiff movements, he moves his arms up, feeling a plush, silk pillow above him and something hard behind it. Gritting his teeth, he uses whatever supernatural strength he has left in him to push at the heavy weight above him. A grunt escapes him, and then light invades his sensitive eyes. The lid of the ivory coffin swings open, and then two pairs of hands are there to help Kyungsoo sit up.
Kyungsoo feels dizzy and disoriented as his eyes struggle to get used to the light in the room. He reaches up and claws at his throat, feeling extremely parched. He opens his eyes to the assaulting brightness once again and catches sight of a familiar face. Relentless, he grabs at the younger man's collar and yanks him down roughly before sinking his teeth into the column of his neck. Blood tasting of the sweetest ambrosia spills into his mouth and soothes his aching thirst. Kyungsoo feels the life slowly fill his veins, and once he feels full and sated, he pulls away from his servant.
Another servant steps up, producing a handkerchief and wiping at Kyungsoo’s bloodstained lips and chin. Usually, he drinks in a neater fashion, but his hunger was to the extreme that he must have drunk sloppily.
“Are you alright, Master?”
Kyungsoo grumbles as he wipes at his eyes, blinking multiple times until he’s finally used to the light in the room. He stretches, groaning as a few bones crack and rolls his neck around to get rid of any uncomfortableness.
He looks to his right and finds his four servants standing there. Yixing is looking at him in concern; Sehun is clutching his bleeding neck. Zitao is holding the bloodstained handkerchief, and Jongdae is rubbing at Kyungsoo’s back.
"I'm fine," he answers, frowning at his hoarse voice. "How long has it been?"
Yixing smiles softly at him, electric blue eyes twinkling. "Your retirement lasted exactly a century, Master."
Retirement is the term used for a vampire's hibernation, for lack of a better term. It always lasts at least a century, but it can last longer, depending on the person. Considering Kyungsoo entered retirement reluctantly, it's no surprise he woke up exactly after 100 years.
"Come now, let's help you out of there," Yixing looks to the taller man beside him. "Zitao?"
The raven-haired man nods, handing the handkerchief to Sehun before his sharp eyes turn to Kyungsoo. The male seated in the coffin huffs as Zitao hefts him out and sets him on his feet like a child. Kyungsoo notices he's still in the basement as he was a century ago, though it seems like only yesterday.
He brushes the dust off of his clothes and shakes his cloak. Turning to his servants, he motions to the doors. "Enough wasting time here. Yixing, fill me in with any news while we walk."
To his surprise Jongdae is quick to scramble in front of the door, blocking Kyungsoo's path. "M-Master, um, I warn you that things...may be different? The world has changed a lot," he shrinks under the older vampire's glare. "So we did some redecorating and some changes to the manor. B-But it looks as beautiful as it did a century ago and—!"
Jongdae is cut off as Kyungsoo powerfully swats him to the side, causing him to fly into the wall, cracking into the pavement and leaving a decent sized, Jongdae-shaped imprint.
Kyungsoo says nothing, but the servants can very well sense his impending anger, shuffling behind him nervously as he stalks up the staircase that leads to the main floor. When he throws open the door (with more force than necessary), Kyungsoo stops. This room was the originally the large, main sitting room, he's very sure. He vividly remembers the two chairs he'd inherited during the gothic era, adorned with plush, red velvet seats. And the large painting of his parents hanging over the grand fireplace had always been there, created back when Kyungsoo was a child.
Instead, what he finds is a sleek black and white room with modern décor. The painting is gone and replaced with a rectangular device equipped with colorful moving pictures. It’s something he’s never seen before, and Kyungsoo tilts his head, trying to comprehend what exactly he’s looking at.
"Eat my dust, brother!" Yifan exclaims as he swings something white around, eyes trained on the screen. He's not dressed in a fashion Kyungsoo is familiar with, something a lot less formal than the perfectly pressed suits he’s used to seeing the older vampire dressed in.
Luhan curses but bumps shoulders with Yifan and laughs boisterously. He swings his own arm towards the television. "You know I am the tennis champion! You will never defeat me!" With a fierce growl he whips his arm back and forth, the fake sounds of a tennis match blasting from the device mounted over the fireplace.
“...What is this?” Kyungsoo questions, voice calm.
“I believe it is called a Wii, Sire,” Yixing smiles. “It is a new piece of technology that came out back in 2007 if my memory serves me well. It’s quite fun, Master. You can play all sorts of amusing games with it.”
Kyungsoo’s eyebrow twitches. “I see, so whose idea was it to remodel without my permission?”
Yixing, Sehun, and Zitao stiffen, knowing the outburst is due to arrive with any moment. Sehun, the youngest of them all, gulps but steps up to murmur, “It was Luhan’s idea, Sire.”
At that exact moment, a cheering noise blasts from the television, and Luhan yells in victory. "In your face, Yifan!" he shouts with a large grin before noticing Kyungsoo standing behind him, giving off menacing vibes that Luhan doesn't seem to notice.
"You have awakened, my friend!" Luhan exclaims, strolling over. "Do you like the new design? I have tossed out all of that boring furniture! Welcome to the new age, Kyung—"
Kyungsoo promptly grabs the chattering blond male by the shoulder and flings him into the television, shattering the piece of technology and creating fissures in the wall.
Do Kyungsoo was born in 1612—into the pureblood vampire clan, the Do's. So no, he was not turned against his will. He had been born in this life, gifted with a long life and immortality. Kyungsoo had been all over the world and experienced it all.
He'd met Luhan and Yifan when he was a child, and they have stuck together ever since. Occasionally they go their own ways, but they always manage to come back together. Yifan and Luhan are idiots, but they are idiots that Kyungsoo trusts.
Yixing and the rest of Kyungsoo's servants are his sire children, or rather vampires that he turned himself. He never forced any of them into this life. All of them had been suffering in some way, whether it was poverty, like Zitao, or abuse, like Yixing, and had asked for his help.
He is a wealthy aristocrat by all means and settled in his manor just after the twentieth century. And shortly after that, he slipped into retirement.
"When I said 'look after my manor and staff,' I did not mean remodel while I'm away!" Kyungsoo hisses, sitting across from a frowning Luhan in one of the uncomfortable white chairs. Minseok, Luhan's only servant, shuffles up, placing a tray of tea and an assortment of cakes on the table between them before he pours tea into both cups, dropping two cubes of sugar into Luhan's cup as always, while leaving Kyungsoo's bitter and plain. Jongdae, now healed, is assisting Zitao in repairing the wall, and Sehun is taking the broken television out.
"You cannot expect me to live with century-old furniture and not with brand new technology," Luhan scoffs. "You've missed a lot, my friend. The humans have truly been revolutionary—movies, color photographs, television, cell phones, Internet, video games, etc!"
"What?" Kyungsoo deadpans, having never heard half of those terms before. "Have I missed anything actually important?"
"The hunters," Yifan speaks up from where he's sitting. He runs a hand through his dark hair. “The hunters went extinct. If there are any left with hunter blood in them, they probably have no idea.”
Kyungsoo smiles genuinely, looking down at his lap as he toys with the sapphire ring on his finger. “Good,” he murmurs, “that’s…good.”
Luhan nods in agreement, not missing the sentimental look in the other vampire’s eyes, knowing he was surely reminiscing about the past. “There was a war just shortly after you left, between the hunters and the werewolves. They ended up killing each other off. Well,” he pauses, “mostly. We came in and killed the rest of either of them.”
“The dogs are extinct as well?” the raven-haired male raises a brow, taking a sip of his tea. “It’s about time.”
Before Kyungsoo had entered retirement, the werewolves had been at each other’s necks. It was daily news about one pack wiping out another, not that the vampires really cared. Kyungsoo never liked the mutts, and most vampires felt the same. They were just playing the waiting game until the wolves killed their own kind to near extinction. It seems that the hunters just happened to give the final blow.
“There’s still just a few,” Yifan shrugs.
“One of which is apparently snooping around in this area,” his brother sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as Minseok ducks down to whisper in his ear. “Another mauled deer only a few miles out from this area was found tonight. The humans suspect it to be a wild dog or a wolf as one has been sighted.”
“It might come into my territory?” Kyungsoo asks, furrowing his brows. The last thing he wants to deal with after just waking up is some mutt snooping around on his land. Not to mention he doesn’t exactly have the strength at the moment to take on a werewolf, especially if it’s one that managed to survive after the war.
“We will be returning home to China tomorrow night,” Luhan informs, shoving a cinnamon tea cake into his mouth and speaking around the mouthful (Kyungsoo winces). “I advise that you and your staff be on the lookout. Kill it if you find it.”
Kyungsoo scoffs. “Just because you’re older than me does not mean I take orders from you.”
“It’s actually orders from the Council,” Luhan replies, smiling that weird old lady smile that he somehow possesses with such a handsome face. “Just after the war, a law was passed to eliminate all werewolves. That still applies today.”
The Council was basically a bunch of old, lazy fucks that sat on their asses all day and ordered all other vampires around. A monarchy used to be in place, but that was torn down in 1835, ruling Kyungsoo and the other royals practically useless. Occasionally if a decision can't be made, the Council will call upon a member of the old monarchy to make a decision. So usually, Kyungsoo doesn't give a damn about what they do.
"I'll kill it if I have to," he shrugs.
"Our Kyungsoo, always so soft-hearted," Luhan coos and other vampire throws a cake at his face.
Once Luhan and Yifan take their leave to return to China, Kyungsoo focuses on straightening the manor and fixing it to his liking. He finds that he likes most of it, to his own surprise, and only asks for a few things to be thrown out, like some god awful lamp Luhan had placed in his master bedroom.
Yixing also catches him up on the history that he’s missed over the past century. Anything he can’t remember, Kyungsoo reads up on some device called an iPad. He reacts strangely to the mechanics of the technology, asking Yixing in a very serious tone if the humans have created magic. It takes him a while to get used to it, but he regrettably starts to like this new technology.
He still doesn’t understand the Internet and email (“Why can’t you just send a letter if mail is much faster these days?”), but Yixing says he’ll get the hang of things soon.
A few weeks after his awakening, Kyungsoo strolls around the grounds between the forest and his manor and notices the vines crawling up the gates and how grown out the shrubbery has become. He orders Zitao and Sehun to clean it up as they have no reason to resist guests anymore. Though Kyungsoo doesn’t like humans and prefers to be alone, Jongdae suggests it will be easier to get used to the new world if he interacts with humans that come to his door for whatever reason.
He moves their mailbox to the front of the gate in response and as far away from the house as possible.
On a particular morning, Kyungsoo is reading a novel and lounging in his ebony coffin in his bedroom (most vampires sleep in beds these days, but he prefers to be traditional), prepared to sleep the day away as most nocturnal creatures do as he lies back against the red silk lining. The horror novel he’s reading is rather grotesque and intriguing, so he hopes to reach the next chapter before going to sleep.
He flips one page before the door flies open, revealing Sehun with a red burn on the side of his face, dirt staining his clothes as evidence of doing yardwork. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at Sehun’s burned state. The youngling has always stayed out until the sun began to rise and became burnt in some place. He was sick of telling Sehun to use ointment to soothe his burns.
“What is it?” he asks, going back to reading his book, holding the white iPad above his head.
“It’s another one. It happened again,” Sehun replies, lisp becoming evident slightly.
Kyungsoo sighs. He knows exactly what Sehun’s talking about.
The past four days, Zitao and Sehun came to him and reported seeing multiple mauled animals in the woods—squirrels, cats, deer, rabbits, birds, etc. It’s clearly the evidence that the wolf Luhan had warned about is now intruding on his territory. Being around the full moon, it has to have been one.
Normally, Kyungsoo wouldn’t really care, but with the Council’s orders, and the dead animals bothering Zitao and Sehun (though they’ve been arounddead bodies), he has to do something about it. He certainly isn’t sending one of his servants to deal with the mutt either. It’s something he’ll have to take care of himself.
“Were there paw prints?” he asks. The size of the prints can determine whether it’s a pup or an older wolf he’s dealing with.
“Yes, Sire,” Sehun brushes some dirt from his inky black hair. “They were smaller than my palm.”
“Very good,” Kyungsoo nods, clicking the button that closes the iPad, “tell Yixing to wake me up before sunset. I’m going to go find that wolf myself.” He places the device on the table next to his coffin, and then reaches up to grasp the handle on the coffin’s lid.
"Shall I tell him to ready your gun too?" the younger man asks moving to stand in the doorway. His hand laid on the door knob and the other on the light switch.
"Yes," he replies, "with the silver bullets."
As ordered, Yixing opens his coffin and wakes him up before the moon rises and the stars twinkle. Kyungsoo gets ready quickly, not wanting to miss the wolf somehow. He doesn't know when it will arrive and tread on his grounds.
He heads out, gun in his hand, not really knowing what to expect. Kyungsoo has only killed a few werewolves in his time, having killed ten times as many of his own kind actually. Usually vampires and wolves were evenly matched, combat-wise, unless the wolf was young and inexperienced.
In all honesty, Kyungsoo doesn’t want to kill this wolf, especially if it’s a young one. Call him compassionate and soft, but if this werewolf is newly turned, the last thing he wants to do is kill the poor and confused thing. He knows he has to though, and that’s why he’s doing it himself rather than getting one of his servants to do it. The otherwise gentle individuals would never be able to kill someone who has done nothing to deserve such a thing.
Kyungsoo does want it off of his land, however.
He flits through the forest; the leaves rustling are the only hint of his approach in the dark night. Kyungsoo stops every once in a while to listen closely, but so far he has come up with nothing. It is two days after the full moon. Perhaps the effects have worn off the young wolf, but the usual cycle lasts five days—two before the full moon and two after. It can be even longer for fledglings. Some full moons don’t even effect older wolfs anymore.
He rests against a tree, waiting and listening as he examines the gun in his hands. It’s a simple silver pistol, but a model that’s new to him. Kyungsoo was angered that his gun had been replaced as well, but Yixing assured him that this one possesses better accuracy and is more efficient. The older vampire has taken a few practice shots, and he can admit that Yixing is right. The barrel of the gun has a Latin phrase etched into it, an old practice to ward off the “children of the night”.
Kyungsoo rubs his finger over the engraving—and that’s when he hears it.
The distinct howl of a wolf, shortly followed by the hoarse cry of a deer.
He turns in the direction of the noise before using his speed to cross the distance in less than a minute. The forest blurs around him, and then his feet stop before the bank of the frozen creek. Only a few meters ahead of him stands a young chocolate brown wolf. It’s skinny, most likely due to its new insatiable hunger that it has yet to fulfill, and doesn’t notice Kyungsoo at first, too busy tearing into its meal—a doe.
He wrinkles his nose in distaste as the wolf gets itself messy, blood matting the fur on its muzzle and staining its feet as it paws at its prey. Kyungsoo clicks his tongue once and the wolf’s head snaps up, sharp yellow gaze locking onto his form. He stares it down, hoping to assert some sort of power, crimson eyes gleaming in the light of the moon.
The wolf’s upper lip curls up, showcasing blood-stained, ragged teeth. It growls, deep and menacing, and barks once. Kyungsoo shows no fear in response, not that he is afraid. He can easily overpower this beast with no problem.
The leaves rustle as the wolf steps over its dead prey, a guttural snarl escaping it as it slowly stalks towards the vampire. Kyungsoo hides the silver gun behind his back, a tiny click sounding as he cocks it, waiting for the right moment to aim and shoot. When the wolf curves its back momentarily before swiftly lunging at the man, Kyungsoo fires accurately at abnormal speed, and the bullet shoots out and grazes the wolf’s abdomen as he’d meant for it to.
The mutt falls to the ground with a barked yelp, and Kyungsoo approaches it as it whines and writhes on the ground because silver burns like a bitch to werewolves. If he had shot correctly, the werewolf would’ve been dead the moment the bullet entered its body. Silver is that poisonous, and Kyungsoo knows the silver will leave this wolf weak for days.
The wolf cries out and claws at the ground before its form suddenly dislocates. Kyungsoo watches as the shivering beast slowly reverts to its normal human state. In no time, he’s looking down on a naked boy, curled up into a ball with blood seeping out of a wound on his ribcage, staining his tanned skin.
Kyungsoo steps up, and with the tip of his boot, he nudges the boy’s leg. “Get up,” he says.
The human jolts at the sound of another voice, golden eyes snapping open before the irises fade into a dark brown color. With a pained grunt and pitiful whimpers, he forces himself to sit up, a hand immediately moving to hold his wound. He looks utterly confused, pulling his hand away to look at the blood while his other reaches up to touch his lips, horrified at the crimson substance smeared on his face and chin, dripping down the column of his neck. Kyungsoo doubts raw deer and its blood taste especially good to a human, regardless if they’re actually a werewolf.
The vampire clears his throat, and the boy is startled as he looks up. He scoots back a little, dirtying himself in the damp leaves. “Wh…What…” he tries to speak but only a soft, dry whisper comes out.
Oh, Kyungsoo realizes, he has no idea. Someone turned him and left him. Great. Amazing. Super.
With a sigh, he lowers his gun, knowing the boy poses no threat. Kyungsoo feels bad for him, but he doesn’t feel like caring for this poor dog. It’s not his responsibility. “Go home,” he murmurs, trying to seem less frightening by speaking in a soft tone, “and stay out of my territory, wolf.”
Those wide brown eyes look utterly lost to his words, but the vampire doesn’t really care. He got the message across; maybe that will keep him out for good. Shoving the pistol into the holster on his hip, Kyungsoo turns on his heels and begins to step away. The pup can find his own way home, probably.
There’s shifting in the leaves, hands clawing at the ground before dirty fingers grasp onto the fabric of Kyungsoo’s heavy cloak. The dark-haired vampire turns around to see the injured boy hanging on to him, dragging himself across the earth by then clinging to Kyungsoo’s ankle.
“Why am I…” the werewolf struggles to speak. “What…am I…”
“You’re a werewolf,” Kyungsoo answers, feeling as though that is a good enough explanation.
“Were…” the boy suddenly goes pale and stiffens.
And then he promptly vomits on Kyungsoo’s shoes.
“Why can’t you wash your own goddamn back?” Kyungsoo grumbles as he scrubs at the dirty werewolf’s skin. He’s currently got the mutt sitting in the bath, Kyungsoo’s bath to be specific. Call him a bleeding heart, but he couldn’t just abandon the boy in the forest, having been injured and having puked up whatever was in his stomach.
But why the hell is he helping him get clean and therefore wasting quality reading time?
The boy is silent; his dark hair is wet and slicked back, and water is dripping from his chin as he hugs his knees to his chest. He hasn’t said a word since vomiting, and Kyungsoo can’t tell if it’s because he’s still in shock or weak from his wound that is slowly stitching itself up because werewolves have that super healing thing going on.
Just to be nice, Kyungsoo rolls up his sleeves that have rolled down again and dips the washcloth in the soapy water. He grasps the other male’s chin and turns it toward himself before wiping away the remnants of blood and whatnot still sticking to his jaw and neck. The werewolf’s plain chocolate eyes lock with his own maroon ones, and Kyungsoo knows just what question is running through the boy’s head.
“What…” He clears his throat. “What are you? Wh-Who are you?”
Kyungsoo sits back once he has all of the blood and muck cleaned off of places that aren’t so intimate, not that nudity really bothers him, especially considering they’re both male. “My name is Do Kyungsoo, and I’m a vampire.”
The boy’s eyes go wide. “Really?”
“Do I look like I am joking?” he deadpans.
“I guess not, since I’m a w-werewolf and all. My name is Jongin, by the way.”
“You are a werewolf,” Kyungsoo nods. “I shot you because you were in my territory. Honestly, I should’ve killed you, but I didn’t really see a reason to.”
“How though? How am I one?” Jongin looks back at the water in the bathtub. “I…I didn’t even know they existed.”
“Have you ever had any strange encounter? Where a man attacked you or maybe a wolf?” Kyungsoo pauses before mumbling. “It could have happened in your sleep too, I suppose…”
Jongin shivers. “Well, I did pet a dog a couple months ago. I really like dogs! And this one was really cute when I was out in the woods behind my grandma’s house, but it growled suddenly and bit me.” He turns his palm over and shows Kyungsoo a nasty scar on the juncture of his palm and wrist. “It nearly broke my wrist.”
To his surprise, Kyungsoo suddenly grabs his hand and tugs it towards himself. Jongin’s voice catches in his throat because something in him wants toyip happily for some weird fucking reason. The vampire ignores his reaction and leans forward to sniff his palm. His nose wrinkles, and Kyungsoo rubs at it as he pushes Jongin’s hand away.
“That was not a dog. It was a wolf,” Kyungsoo grumbles. How the hell had he found a full-grown wolf cute?
“Did I make it angry or something?”
“No, I doubt it,” he shakes his head. “The werewolves are mostly extinct. It was most likely trying to preserve their lineage.”
“Are vampires extinct too?”
“No,” Kyungsoo scoffs, red eyes glinting in the light, “we are all among your kind. It’s easily to blend in with humans.”
“Oh,” Jongin simply says before falling silent. He doesn’t know what to make of the information Kyungsoo is giving him really. The fact that he is, in actuality, a werewolf and is currently talking to a vampire is making him want to pinch himself to make sure he isn’t having a nightmare. He can’t be a werewolf. He doesn’t have time for it. He has school and the dance team—and how is he finally going to land a date with Choi Jinri?
“Is there, like, any way to…not be a werewolf?” Jongin squeaks out. “Like, I don’t have time for this can I just make it go away?”
“Are you a fool? Of course not,” Kyungsoo reaches over and into the bath, pulling the plug from the drain before getting to his feet. He begins to fix his sleeves as he continues. “It cannot be reversed, but it can be controlled. Unfortunately for you, I’m not an avid pet sitter.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Jongin whines and kicks his feet impatiently.
Kyungsoo throws a towel at his head to silence him. “Dry yourself off. I will have someone bring you clothes.”
Jongin peers up from under the white fluffy towel. “Can I leave after that?”
“No, the moon may still affect you. You can stay here until the night passes,” the vampire replies just before he leaves the bathroom and swiftly shuts the door behind him.
Kyungsoo sits with a dead stare, much too disgusted to eat as he watches Jongin messily devour everything on the table. His servants sit at the table in silence as well, much too enraptured by the werewolf’s heavy appetite. At least the food Yixing prepared hadn’t gone to waste.
The only sound is Jongin’s spoon or chopsticks clinking against the plates and bowls. It’s when he starts eating with his bare hands that Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and averts his gaze to Jongdae, who’s beginning to clean up the now-empty dishes, and when Jongin’s not looking, he sneaks the untouched plates to Sehun and the other hungry servants.
“Jongdae,” Kyungsoo motions for the other vampire to come near.
Immediately, Jongdae places the tower of dishes in his arms on the table and wipes off his hands with one of the cloth napkins. “Yes, Sire?”
“Fetch me the telephone, would you?” he asks, taking a sip of his wine and holding a hand out. The man with caramel hair immediately acted without a word, strolling over to the wall behind Kyungsoo, where an old-fashioned phone sat on a stand. Jongdae plucked the handheld piece off of its perch and held it to his ear.
“Who should I call?”
Kyungsoo sighs, “Byun and his goddamn mutt.”
Jongin watches the interaction and swallows the food left in his puffed out cheeks. “You still use a phone like that?” It was one of the ones with the rolling dialing method, something he’d only seen in movies. “Don’t you have an IPhone or something?”
“What on Earth you are talking about,” Kyungsoo waves a hand in dismissal as Jongdae hands him the phone, informing him that it is dialing.
“It’s a new piece of technology,” Sehun murmurs to him from his right, “A phone smaller than your hand. It’s very cool, Sire. Can I get one?”
“No,” Kyungsoo replies before turning back to Jongdae, “dial again? He hasn’t picked up.”
The werewolf across from him shoves a roll into his mouth, his cheek puffing out once again as he chews. “How old are you anyways?”
Kyungsoo answers him in a heartbeat. “403 years.”
“Whoa,” Jongin’s brown eyes light up in wonder. “That’s like what, the 1700s?”
“1600s,” Zitao corrects him.
“Are the rest of you guys really old too?” Jongin asks, looking at the other servants around him. They certainly didn’t look old, all looking around his age or just a little older.
“Define ‘really old’,” Jongdae snorts.
“Most of us were born in the early to mid-1800s,” Yixing smiles.
“I was born in 1891 though,” Sehun says around the spoon between his lips, unnatural blue eyes wide. “I’m the only one not sired by Master Kyungsoo too. My sire was Lady—“
“Jongdae, Sehun, continue your chat with Jongin elsewhere,” Kyungsoo cuts in, crimson eyes burning with anger directed at the talkative bunch. Jongin can hear a voice from the other side of the phone, and he could tell the vampire had finally reached whoever he was trying to dial earlier.
And so, Jongin is forcefully dragged from his beautiful meal, and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as he reaches for one last handful of couscous.
With not much else to do, Sehun and Zitao take Jongin on a tour of the three-story mansion. It comes as news to him that the place has three stories as he was mostly disoriented when Kyungsoo had initially brought him to it a few hours prior. There are endless rooms which Jongin is sure that he will never remember, not that he ever plans on coming back.
He finds Sehun and Zitao to be very nice to be with, however, and they’re easy to talk to, unlike Kyungsoo, who seems displeased with everything Jongin does. Zitao and Sehun assure him that that’s just Kyungsoo’s way of doing things, and he’s actually very kind. Jongin doesn’t really believe them. Sure, he helped Jongin somewhat, but he also shot him for being in his territory, which was completely out of Jongin’s control as far as he is concerned.
They are walking down to the last door in one of the hallways when the two vampires suddenly stop and exchange glances. And then they’re turning Jongin around and heading back in the opposite direction, confusing the werewolf. Was that a private room or something? What could a vampire be hiding?
What couldn’t he be hiding, is the question he should be asking.
“So do you guys, uh, like really drink blood?” Jongin asks stupidly. Of course they fucking drink blood, Kim Jongin.
Fortunately, Zitao seems to understand his intention with the question. “Yes, but we don’t kill, and we don’t need to drink a lot. Master Kyungsoo gets donations from human organizations, or we drink from each other,” he shrugs.
“Isn’t that like…gay?”
“No,” Sehun frowns, “it’s like sharing a drink with your friend.”
“That’s…not the same thing at all…”
Eventually, they lead Jongin to a large room turned into a makeshift library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a large study table in the middle, covered in papers and miscellaneous books. The two vampires take their leave to sleep, and Jongin is left alone in the library.
He’s never been much of an avid reader as it was, so he doesn’t bother with looking at the books and instead plops himself down in the desk chair. Jongin glances at the papers decorating the surface of the table, but most of them are in languages other than Korean so there isn’t much to really read.
He looks down at his hands and touches the scar on his wrist. So he’s a werewolf. Great. That would explain why he woke up the past few mornings tired no matter how early he went to bed, and why he woke up mysteriously naked with his underwear nowhere in sight. Jongin had also gotten weird itches at random times and a certain restlessness and excitement during the day, like he wanted to go roll around in the grass or some shit.
With Kyungsoo having told him there’s no way to reverse it, Jongin doesn’t know what to do. Just live with it? He obviously isn’t going to rely on some vampire for help. He doesn’t need any more weird experiences like this one.
It’s when he’s folding a piece of parchment into a paper plane that Kyungsoo suddenly pops into the air in front of him, and Jongin nearly falls out of the chair in surprise. “Holy shit!”
“Sorry,” Kyungsoo apologizes, though it sounds like an afterthought, “are you having fun?”
Jongin sighs, willing his heartbeat to fall to a normal tempo after that surprise. “No, I’m bored,” he mumbles.
“What a shame,” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, something Jongin notices he does often. “Anyways, that phone call I had was to ask a friend about you. I don’t have much extensive knowledge of werewolves, so I asked him for advice.” He plants his hands on the desk and looks down at the sitting wolf. “You want help? I’ll give it to you. I suggest that you come here every full moon, which is once or twice every month. Look up the schedule if you must. You will only feel the effects of the wolf within during that time period, including fatigue, stress, and feral behavior, basically things that will make you want to lose your mind. Things will be different now that your first full moon cycle has passed. You don’t want my help? Fine. The next time I see you in my territory, you’ll be dead.” His dark maroon gaze is threatening, and Jongin doesn’t want to admit that he’s a little scared at the moment.
“Okay,” he nods, not really sure how else to respond. Jongin doesn’t plan on coming back to this place anyways.
His eyes look to the window behind Kyungsoo, and he catches the sunlight peeking through the curtains. With a gasp, he runs past the vampire and throws open the drapes. “What time is it?”
Kyungsoo flinches and averts his eyes from the brightness. “It’s just after 11 AM,” he answers.
“Oh my god,” Jongin looks back to the other man with wide eyes. “I need to go home! My parents are going to freak out, and I can’t go on that date with Jinri if I’m grounded!”
“Calm down,” the vampire appears next to him and closes the curtains with a wince. He really needs to sleep soon, staying up this late is giving him a headache. “I’ll have someone drive you home. I believe Zitao can drive.”