Chapter Text
The day went by in a heavy silence. Chanyeol had been out for an hour or two, and when he returned, not a single word was exchanged. He guessed it was because any topic of conversation that came to mind seemed to be a sensitive one, which nobody knew how to broach. Hansol's transformation, or the cruel life of the Stone Hunters...
Hansol sat at the dining table, alone. He looked around, at all the things he now saw through his vampire eyes. All the sounds were louder, and all the smells more intense. He could hear hearts beating, or conversely, noticed that vampires' hearts weren't beating, or hardly at all. The colors around him seemed brighter than before. The change was hard to accept.
"Hansol," a voice called.
The newborn vampire raised his head at the sound of his name. Soonyoung was coming towards him. A great chill spread through his veins at once, freezing him in place as he noticed what his elder was holding. A red liquid in a glass bottle. Instantly, Hansol guessed what it was.
"No," he said curtly, with what little breath he had.
"I know what you're thinking. But you've got to get over it. Drinking blood is all that ensures we live..."
"No!" he repeated. He concentrated, took a deep breath, and continued: "I don't want to live if I'm going to be a monster!..."
He immediately noticed the grimace that appeared on Soonyoung's face.
"S-Sorry, that's not what I meant..." he apologized at once.
"No, it's exactly what you meant. I know it is. I thought so too when I was turned into a vampire. I hated myself too. But then you learn to live with it..."
Hansol turned his gaze to Seungkwan who was watching him, naively believing that the young vampire hadn't noticed him. Noticing that Hansol had turned his head in his direction, he gasped and pretended to be focused on his phone.
"Well, he certainly hates me…"
"No, he doesn't. He still loves you."
"Then why do you think he's been avoiding me? He hasn't come to see me or talk to me once..."
Soonyoung pulled up a chair and sat down beside him. He put the bottle down on the table. "You were in Fury when you woke up and gave him quite a fright. He's still in shock, but he'll get over it."
"He'll never want a vampire for a boyfriend."
"Will he?" Soonyoung nodded. He remained silent for a few seconds, thoughtful, then murmured with a discreet smile: "He's the one who wanted us to turn you."
"He what?"
"Seungcheol didn't want us to turn you. Not because he doesn't care about you, but just the opposite: he didn't want us to impose the life of a Stone Hunter on you. Mingyu insisted that Seungkwan would like to bring you back. So he asked him, and Seungkwan said he wanted you back, no matter what the cost. Seungkwan loves you sincerely. And as soon as he gets over the natural fear that our kind inspires, he'll show it to you again."
"I didn't know..." Hansol murmured, lowering his head.
"Maybe now you're not quite alive, in the truest sense of the word, but... But you're here. And that's all that matters to Seungkwan. You should know that he's spent his days watching over you and praying for you to wake up. Sometimes we even had to force him to go to sleep because he didn't want to leave you," Soonyoung recounted.
"I had no idea he loved me so much..."
"I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say he couldn't imagine a world without you," Soonyoung affirmed, nodding dreamily. "Do you think he made a bad choice in letting us turn you into a vampire?"
Hansol lowered his eyes and forgot to breathe for a moment. He silently contemplated what he had become, a sort of animated corpse with a thirst for blood. And then, after a moment, he imagined that if he'd been in his boyfriend's shoes, if he'd seen him die and had to choose between turning him into a vampire or living without him, he too would have made the first choice.
"When you can spend even a few more moments with someone you love, you're not very particular about how you get it..." Soonyoung sighed without waiting for an answer from the younger man. "Don't waste this second wind just because you think you're a monster or something... Enjoy being still here, and return the love that brought you back to life, okay?"
The young vampire hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. He caught his breath and replied in a low voice: "Thanks hyung."
"You're welcome, Hansol."
"It's... It's strange, I never imagined you to be so sentimental," remarked the young vampire.
A little dissonant laugh shook Soonyoung's shoulders, but his face darkened enough for Hansol's piercing eyes to notice. The young vampire was about to apologize for his remark, which had obviously made his elder uncomfortable, but the other Stone Hunter didn't give him the chance.
"By the way, your breathing has become much better," he commented.
Hansol guessed that the impromptu change of subject was deliberate, but he didn't point it out.
"Y-Yes, I'm getting used to wanting to breathe..." he replied.
Soonyoung hummed his approval. Then he used the power of his mind to make a glass come to him from one of the kitchen cupboards. Hansol watched in awe.
"You need to have a drink, Hansol," Soonyoung announced. "It's important to get your strength back after a transformation."
Hansol glanced disgustedly at the bottle Soonyoung was opening. "I can't drink blood..." he muttered with a shudder of horror.
"I assure you it's not nearly as horrible as you think. You're not human anymore, Hansol, you're a vampire. And that's what vampires do."
Soonyoung half-filled the glass before pushing it towards Hansol. The young vampire eyed the red liquid warily before a lemony scent reached his nose. Unsettled, he leaned over and sniffed to catch the smell, and a single breath confirmed that it was blood from which the citrus scent emanated.
"Why does it... Why does it smell like that?"
"It's Topaz-Blood. It's blood that tastes and smells like citrus."
"Topaz-Blood?... What kind of name is that?"
"Ah yes, that's right... You weren't there when we explained Precious-Bloods..."
Soonyoung took a few minutes to define Precious-Bloods and their various properties, and in particular how they appeared to Stone Hunters. Hansol frowned, trying to remember everything.
"So the... the green lines I see under Seungkwan's skin, that's..."
"Emerald-Blood," Soonyoung confirmed.
The newborn vampire looked again at the glass of blood. After a final grimace, he reached out to take it. Doubt crossed his mind.
"Where did this blood come from?..."
"Chanyeol went to buy it just for you earlier. Don't worry, it's ethically sourced. No one was hurt to get it."
Hansol frowned, but didn't ask the burning question: how could blood be ethically sourced? As the blood had been stored in the fridge, it was cold. Though still reluctant, he brought the glass to his lips, and the citrus scent intoxicated him. There was something about the scent that reminded him he wasn't about to drink vulgar orange juice, but a drink that was exceptional for vampires. The smell was terribly enticing.
Hansol let out a squeak of surprise and clamped his hand over his mouth. He swore he could feel his teeth moving. His canines precisely. His eyes widened in panic and he cast a distressed glance at Soonyoung. Soonyoung chuckled, amused by his panicked reaction.
"Yes, they do that sometimes. Here, take a look."
Soonyoung took out his phone as a mirror to allow Hansol to look at himself. Hansol moved his hand away and opened his mouth, and was appalled by the length of his canines.
"Wow... So I really am a vampire," he lisped.
Unaccustomed to the size of his teeth, he struggled a little to speak with them. Cautiously, he slid his tongue over his teeth to estimate their size.
"You'll cut your tongue quite often with it," Soonyoung chuckled. "So be careful."
With that, he gently pushed Hansol's hand, which was holding the glass of Topaz-Blood, towards his lips. The young vampire finished the gesture on his own and closed his eyes, dreading the moment when the blood would touch his tongue. The first drop fell, and Hansol gasped. Without being able to understand himself, without being able to hold back, he drank the beverage in great gulps and emptied the glass in less than a few seconds. And when nothing more flowed down his throat, his eyes widened as he realized he'd just swallowed human blood greedily. Guilt struck him to the core: it was so wrong to find blood delicious.
He put the glass back in his feverish hand, and just as he was about to look at Soonyoung again, he noticed that he was still holding his phone in front of his face. In his reflection, he immediately saw that his eyes were yellow. He leaned over to get a better look at the phenomenon.
"So my eyes change color according to the Precious-Blood I drink..." he observed.
"Exactly. And now you're immune to the sun for about 24 hours."
To back up his words, he turned to the curtains and squinted slightly. Immediately, they began to move mysteriously, suddenly letting in the dazzling light of midday. Many in the room let out plaintive cries, as their eyes, which had become accustomed to the darkness, suffered from the sudden light.
"Watch out for the sun now," Soonyoung warned him. "If you haven't drunk Topaz-Blood or Enamel before, it'll burn you. And it hurts. A lot."
Hansol nodded, showing he'd understood, before asking: "Can I do that thing where I can move things with my mind?"
"Telekinesis? Perhaps, yes. Not all vampires can. Give it a try."
"Well... How am I supposed to do it?"
"It can't really be explained..." Soonyoung mumbled with a puzzled pout. "Just think of the object you want to move as moving."
The young vampire turned to the empty glass on the table and concentrated. He imagined it sliding across the table, just as Soonyoung had explained. He must have looked a fool, standing there staring at the glass. But suddenly, the glass vibrated and moved slightly to the right. Hansol jerked upright and sought Soonyoung's gaze.
"I did that!" he exclaimed.
His elder's eyes widened in admiration, and he nodded before turning to the other vampires.
"Hey, Mingyu! You made us a Noble, not bad!"
Mingyu, Seungcheol, Junhui, and Chanyeol turned their attention to them and congratulated the newly turned vampire, who raised his eyebrows with incomprehension.
"What does that mean?" he inquired.
"There are four Factions among vampires, remember?" Seungcheol replied. "It's a classification of vampires according to their powers. Those who master telekinesis, and therefore also telepathy and hypnosis, belong to the second most powerful Faction."
"Wait, wait..."
The vampires turned to Jeonghan, who had just spoken. Seungkwan, still close to the elder human, noticed that all the vampires were now looking in his direction, and “all the vampires" implied that Hansol was too. Seungkwan did his best not to meet his boyfriend's gaze.
"Mingyu's from the Upper Faction, isn't he? He's not a Noble... So how come Vernon's a Noble if it was Mingyu who turned him? Is that possible?"
Seungcheol replied: "Yes, it's possible. The Faction of a transformed human doesn't depend on the vampire who transforms him, but on the human's genetic predispositions. A vampire of the Upper Faction can produce a Common, Upper, or Noble. I believe it's even possible to give a Royal, but this is particularly rare. Only the Stone Hunter gift depends on who's transforming."
"You've taught me something," Junhui commented, his eyes wide with surprise.
"I didn't know that either," Chanyeol added.
"I was sure it was random," Soonyoung continued. "How do you know that, hyung?"
"I don't remember exactly where I read it," the leader explained. "But it must have been a long time ago..."
The other vampires nodded, commenting amongst themselves how fascinating it was to still be discovering this kind of thing, even after decades on Earth.
"So... In this vampire hierarchy, I'm a Noble and a Stone Hunter," Hansol continued, to make sure he understood what he was saying.
"Correct," confirmed Soonyoung. "That means you have the same powers as Seungcheol, Chanyeol, and me, namely telekinesis, telepathy, and hypnosis."
"So I can do what you do and... read minds?"
Soonyoung nodded. "I remember it took me a long time to master my powers when I was transformed," he recounted. "For a long time, I even thought I was a Common vampire because I couldn't even fly. It's impressive that you can already do a bit of telekinesis!"
"No, you were just really bad, Soonyoung," joked Seungcheol from across the room. "Most vampires have a fairly immediate mastery of their powers."
"Don't you dare say that!" Soonyoung laughed heartily. "Watch now! I'm doing well! Not as well as you, of course."
Hearing this, Mingyu intervened in turn, to Hansol's attention: "Seungcheol hyung is the best of us! He masters his powers better than any vampire!"
Seungcheol laughed nervously, and the humans who turned to stare at him even thought they saw him blush a little.
"Experience comes with age," the leader replied humbly. "There are vampires with powers far more powerful than mine..."
"Are you kidding?" commented Chanyeol. "You have to be really in control of your powers to be able to hypnotize a vampire in Fury."
Soonyoung, noticing Hansol's intrigued eyes, told him briefly what had happened immediately after his sudden awakening.
"By the way, hyung," Junhui intervened, "you'll probably be the best teacher our young Noble here could ever have."
"Well... he wouldn't be the first vampire I've had to train. And it'll certainly be easier than with Soonyoung!"
"Hyung!" shouted the vampire in question, offended.
Seungcheol's joke and Soonyoung's reaction drew laughter from all the vampires, and even a few of the humans, except for those who were still impervious to vampire humor, including Seungkwan, whose gloomy expression didn't escape Hansol's gaze.
*
Hansol agreed to Seungcheol's lessons in the hope of distracting his grieving heart. In mourning for a past life, he had to leave behind, in the hope of being able to build a new one after this rebirth. He wasn't yet ready to find that strength, and the other Stone Hunters understood this without needing to hear it or read it in Hansol's thoughts.
He spent the rest of the day listening to Seungcheol's advice and practicing. He moved small objects, such as a book or a bottle, using his mind, before trying his hand at larger ones, like a chair or an armchair. He turned out to be quite gifted, just as Seungcheol had predicted.
While the humans sat down to eat their dinner, Hansol continued to read Soonyoung's thoughts as he practiced, under Seungcheol's instruction and encouragement. From a distance, the humans watched the curious scene. When they had finished eating, they didn't linger in the living room, considering that, once night had fallen, the vampires would take full possession of the place, and that it was more reassuring to remain locked in their rooms.
Only Jeonghan lingered a little in the room with them and sat on the sofa to watch Hansol's efforts. He took the opportunity to chat with Junhui and Mingyu who, as vampires of the Upper Faction, could do nothing to help Hansol develop his Noble powers.
But when they decided a little later that it was time to teach Hansol to fly, Mingyu and Junhui joined in the lessons. Jeonghan soon found himself alone on the ground, surrounded by four levitating vampires around him, and a fifth young vampire desperately trying to imitate them by jumping on the spot. The human watched the scene with fascination as if witnessing a magic show.
It was only after many long minutes that Hansol managed, after jumping, not to fall back to the ground. He was floating in the air, just like his four elders. But the strange sensation of levitating unsettled him, causing him to lose his balance, and he toppled forward before falling back to the ground flat on his stomach with a thud. The other four Stone Hunters and Jeonghan winced at the painful fall, and Mingyu rushed to help Hansol to his feet.
Despite the brevity of this success, Hansol was not discouraged and tried several more times, until he managed to stay in the air for a couple of seconds without falling. Jeonghan, thrilled by his success, applauded the young vampire.
"You really are a prodigious student, Hansol," Seungcheol congratulated him. "You're a fast learner! Maybe by tomorrow, you'll even be able to turn yourself into a bat!"
Hansol thanked them and was about to reply that it was because Seungcheol and the others were such patient teachers of him when his keen hearing intercepted a noise, an almost imperceptible gasp. He turned his head in the direction of the noise, imitated by all the other vampires, then by Jeonghan who, seeing all the heads turning, guessed that something was happening.
Seungkwan stood at the entrance to the living room, half hidden behind a wall. Exposed, he froze for a moment, before rushing up the stairs to the upper floor. Hansol, caught off guard, froze as he watched his boyfriend flee. The other Stone Hunters exchanged concerned, helpless glances.
"Hansol, you've got to talk to him..."
The young vampire turned to Jeonghan who had just spoken. Surprised, he waited for him to say more.
"One of you has to decide to talk to the other, or you'll continue to avoid each other... And Seungkwan won't have the courage to do it."
Hansol, overcome by an inexplicable feeling of shame, lowered his head. Without a doubt, Seungkwan wouldn't find the strength to come and talk to his now vampire boyfriend, who had almost hurt him when he woke up.
"Hansol, go ahead," Seungcheol encouraged him. "Don't let this situation drag on."
"And what do I tell him?" asked the young vampire in a vulnerable whisper.
"Maybe start by telling him you love him, hm?" Mingyu suggested with a falsely naive look on his face. "Then you'll see."
It took Hansol a few seconds to make up his mind, and then he took off running towards the stairs. He almost stumbled, not expecting to go so fast, and almost leaped to the top floor, where he easily caught up with Seungkwan, who gasped when he saw him coming. The young human rushed to the nearest door, to open it and put it between him and his boyfriend, but Hansol caught his wrist before he could reach out.
Seungkwan let out a cry of pain, and Hansol, terrified that he'd hurt his boyfriend, immediately withdrew his hand. He saw his boyfriend grab his wrist with his other hand and hold it with a wince, and the young vampire immediately realized that he had hurt Seungkwan with his new, uncontrolled strength. Gripped by remorse such as he'd never felt before, he staggered and took two steps backward. He'd just hurt his boyfriend.
"I-I... I'm sorry..." he stammered. "I didn't mean to..."
"What do you want?" the human gasped nervously.
"I just wanted to tell you that... that I love you..."
Seungkwan gasped and looked away. Hansol didn't like this reaction to his declaration at all. Despite everything, and to drown out the immense shame he felt, he continued to speak:
"They told me what happened when I woke up and I... You don't know how mad I am at myself!... I'm so mad at myself for being... for being what I am now!... I'm so sorry for scaring you... I'm sorry, Seungkwan. I'm so sorry..."
A tear rolled down Hansol's cheek, and Seungkwan noticed it. His face softened as he read the pain on the vampire's face. He parted his lips, took a breath, and shook his head feverishly.
"It's n-not your fault... You didn't choose to become... this... I did..."
"I know... Soonyoung told me they asked you if you wanted them to bring me back... But I also know you didn't choose for me to become a vampire. You chose for me to come back to life. And I know that if you'd had the choice of bringing me back without me becoming that, you would have made that choice..."
It wasn't a question, but Seungkwan nodded.
"I understand that this decision you made was a sacrifice of love the likes of which I thought you only saw in the movies," Hansol continued, in a weaker voice.
His breath was beginning to fail him. His breathing wasn't keeping pace with his distress.
"And I don't blame you for having made this choice... Because I'm lucky enough, now, to be able to spend a little more time with you. But I do hate myself because, with what I am now, to continue to love you would be to force you to live with the love of a monster... And I hate myself for being the one to make tears stream down your face even though I love you and promised myself to be the best boyfriend I could ever be..."
Seungkwan gasped and ran his hands over his face. He hadn't noticed that he too was crying. He tried in vain to hold back his tears, but helpless in the face of his own sadness, he let out a few sobs, breaking Hansol's undead heart even more.
"I didn't think it would make much difference between us..." the human admitted with difficulty. "But you move things with your mind, you fly and... and you can turn into a bat? But worse, you drink blood! I thought I could get past the fact that you're a vampire, but... But it's much harder than I thought!... It's far too real!..."
"A lot has changed, and I realize it too," Hansol replied, swallowing hard. "But there's one thing that won't change, and that's that I love you... That I love you as much as before if not more..."
"I was afraid you'd be angry at me..."
Hansol thought he had misheard, surprised by Seungkwan's words. He stared at him for a long time, speechless.
"I thought you'd hate me because I've made you less human... I thought you'd think I was selfish. And now I hate myself too because, by my fault, you hate yourself, and because I'm a coward... I'm a horrible coward for wanting you back by being a vampire and yet not being able to overcome the idea that you're a vampire!..."
"N-No! No, Seungkwan... Honey..."
Seungkwan struggled to hold back a squeak at the pet name. He also shed a few tears, which made the young vampire shed even more.
"We love each other too much to spend our time hating ourselves, don't you think?" asked Hansol with a nervous laugh mixed with crying.
Despite the pain, Seungkwan sketched what vaguely resembled a smile.
"I want you to know that I'm still the Hansol you love, Seungkwan," continued the vampire. "The same guy who's shy around strangers, who always makes you laugh when you're upset, who loves you more than anything. Please don't give up on me because of that..."
"I'm not giving up on you, Vernonie... It's so much... I love you, but..."
If the vampire's heart briefly raced at those three words that meant so much to him, he stopped again when he heard the “but" that followed.
"Everything seems so different now... I just... I need time. To understand what this means for us..."
Hansol nodded, swallowing the announcement like a bitter pill.
"Take all the time you need. Just... please don't shut me out. You're the most important thing I have left from my old life. You're all the humanity I've lost... It's hard for me to accept too that I'm no longer human, that... that I got the "undead immortal" package now, and that I can't go back... I don't want to lose you either..."
"You won't lose me. I promise..." Seungkwan confided in a breath.
The young vampire's anguish eased a little as he contemplated the possibility of a future with his boyfriend. Their relationship was not new, and it was so important to him that he couldn't bear to give it up.
As he smiled at Seungkwan to let him know how relieved he was, he noticed that the young man was still holding his wrist.
"Did I really hurt you?" inquired the vampire, sheepishly.
He pointed to Seungkwan's wrist. The human raised his arm and made a few movements with his hand, not without wincing a little.
"Uh... It's nothing serious... I'll probably be bruised, but I'm fine."
"I-I'm so sorry... Chanyeol told me I'd have trouble controlling my strength. I should have been more careful..."
"It's okay, Vernonie," Seungkwan reassured him. "I'm fine."
Hansol chose to look down as if to avoid seeing what he had done. After a moment, he murmured:
"I wanted to hug you, but I guess I shouldn't..."
He didn't see Seungkwan's reaction, but he heard him squeal in surprise. He hadn't expected an answer, let alone this one:
"If I'm the one hugging you, I'm safe, right?"
Hansol hesitated for a brief second, overcome with doubt, but the desire to feel Seungkwan's arms around him, to feel that reassuring embrace in which he had so often found love and comfort, made him respond affirmatively with a subtle nod.
Moments later, he felt Seungkwan take him in his arms and hold him close. The vampire didn't move, remaining stiff, for fear that the slightest movement on his part might hurt his boyfriend. But he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, as he rediscovered the familiar sensation of Seungkwan hugging him. He had the strange feeling that it had been a lifetime since the last time. And in a way, it was.
He could hear Seungkwan's heart beating more clearly now that he was snuggled up to him. He felt as if his boyfriend's heart was resonating in his own silent ribcage, like the pleasant echo of his love. He could clearly smell his shower gel and shampoo and beneath those sweet fragrances the scent of his skin. He felt Seungkwan's body burning against his own. He felt blatantly that Seungkwan was alive, and that he was dead.
He could even hear his blood pulsing through his veins, and he could see it too, just beneath his skin, in emerald lines that only his Stone Hunter eyes could see. Hansol bent down to inhale Seungkwan's scent deeply. His scent was warm and deep. The vampire could swear he even smelled a hint of mint.
He leaned in a little more, almost burying his face in the hollow of his boyfriend's neck. He took another breath, and this time his mouth watered. The next second, he felt his canines doubling, tripling in size. There was that horrible itch in his gums that screamed at him to bite down and taste that blood so close, just separated from his tongue by a fragile skin that his fangs would easily pierce.
He jumped back, horrified, and pushed Seungkwan away, a little too abruptly no doubt. He clamped both hands over his mouth as if to prevent himself from screaming and ignoring all Seungkwan's confusion, he ran down the stairs without looking back, through the living room, under the gaze of all the vampires and Jeonghan left behind, and dropped to the floor behind the kitchen counter, in tears.
Seungcheol tried to talk to him, but he refused to listen, and continued to cry, so the vampires sat down beside him and offered their presence as comfort. He cried for so long that Jeonghan eventually left them to go to bed, exhausted. He cried so long that the sky outside was already lightening a little when his crying subsided.
When he finally raised his head, the first thing he saw was Seungcheol sitting right in front of him.
"Hansol, what's happening to you?" the leader asked when he noticed that he finally had a chance to communicate with the newborn vampire.
"I screwed up, hyung... I screwed up so bad!..." he sobbed.
"With Seungkwan? What happened?"
"Everything seemed to be going fine, though," Junhui remarked.
Hansol, looking panicked, hurried to ask: "Y-You were listening?"
"Well, you were just upstairs... It was hard not to hear," Soonyoung admitted.
Although a little embarrassed, Hansol then recounted the feeling – the gnawing need – he'd had to bite Seungkwan, and how his canines had escaped his control. He told them how guilty he felt.
"I wanted to show him that I wasn't a threat, and... And in the end, I got proof that I was!"
As he stammered these words, he noticed the looks the other Stone Hunters were exchanging. In incomprehension, he questioned them with a quizzical pout.
"Hansol, this is something you're going to have to learn to live with," Seungcheol told him gravely. "No matter how hard we try to suppress it, we're still creatures who feed on blood..."
"S-So I can't stay with Seungkwan..."
"It's more complicated than that, Hansol," Junhui continued. "You know, that urge you had, it probably wasn't a bad thing."
"What? How can you say that?... I wanted to hurt the man I love..." Hansol retorted, increasingly confused.
"Vampires don't just bite to hurt," explained Seungcheol. "There are lots of reasons why a vampire uses his fangs. Sometimes, biting, especially at the neck, is a, shall we say, intimate gesture for some vampires. It's much more intimate than a kiss. We mostly see this kind of attitude in the context of Jewelry."
"Jewelry?" the newborn vampire repeated. "What does that mean?"
The four Stone Hunters set about explaining in detail, and Hansol tried desperately to retain as much information as he could.
"That... sounds like something horribly selfish..." commented the youngest vampire when his elders had finished speaking.
Seungcheol let out a laugh and shrugged.
"Yes, if you like. But love makes you do very selfish things, don't you think?"
Knowing he was referring to Seungkwan's decision to have his boyfriend turned into a vampire to bring him back to life, Hansol was forced to nod.
"So you think that... that just now, if I wanted to bite him, it's because... It's because I wanted to make him my Gem?"
"Perhaps it's a bit hasty to think that a vampire less than a day old wanted to set a Precious-Blood. But it was undoubtedly a form of... possessiveness. You didn't want to hurt him. You just wanted to make sure he wouldn't shut you out."
Hansol couldn't help raising his eyes to the sky.
"He definitely will now. I literally pushed him away while he was hugging me! He'll think I was anything but sincere and that everything I said was just empty words..."
"And that's why you should go back and talk to him," Mingyu advised. "You should tell him honestly what being a vampire changes in you. You can't hide from him all the things that make us monsters in the eyes of most humans... You'll still want to bite anyway, especially in your first few years."
"Does it... Does it happen to you, too?" Hansol asked awkwardly. "To suddenly want to bite?"
Soonyoung laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "All the time," he admitted.
"It's even worse when it's blood you dream of tasting," Mingyu continued, lowering his eyes.
"And... have you ever been unable to resist?"
"It's easier to resist when you're a Stone Hunter," Junhui explained. "According to vampire law, Hunters are forbidden to bite and drink Precious-Bloods, under threat of punishments you can't even imagine. So, generally speaking, we restrain ourselves pretty well with this threat in mind."
"And then... We promised each other a few years ago that we'd never touch the blood of members, nor for our own personal consumption, nor for the Lord's orders," Seungcheol told him. "It's an oath, for us, and we'll never break it."
Hansol nodded, looking thoughtful. It was a lot he'd had to take in in less than twenty-four hours, but the changes were so violent that he'd realized at once that everything was far too real and far too terrible. He willingly took all the other vampires' valuable advice, and yet, despite all they told him, he couldn't tear the horrible feeling from his chest that continuing any relationship with Seungkwan was doomed to fail.
*
Soonyoung had a firm grip on Seungcheol's ankle, while Mingyu and Junhui held the leader by the arms. The eldest of the four was biting down firmly on a towel his fangs were piercing.
"Are you ready, hyung?" asked Soonyoung. "It's gonna hurt."
Seungcheol nodded hurriedly and closed his eyes so tightly that wrinkles of strain appeared on his skin. Then Soonyoung pulled sharply on the leader's lower leg to more or less replace the broken tibia that had pierced his skin. Seungcheol screamed, but his voice was muffled in the towel, and he struggled, but the other two Stone Hunters held him firmly.
After a few minutes of crying, Seungcheol let go of the towel and looked down at his leg. The open wound was beginning to close. In a few hours, at best, he'd be able to stand on his legs again and even dance.
"Don't ever ask me to do that again," Soonyoung said as he retrieved a towel to wipe Seungcheol's blood from his hands. "I'm not a doctor, I can't put a broken leg back together!"
"It's not like you have to do surgery," retorted Seungcheol. "That's the advantage of having a body that repairs itself. Even if you need a little help sometimes."
"Hopefully, you won't have to go through that again, hyung," Mingyu said in a small voice. "If this idol thing works, we'll have no trouble supplying the Lord with blood."
"It's really bad timing that he's broken your leg now," Junhui remarked. "We've only just debuted and now you're missing a leg... How are you going to dance?"
"Don't worry," replied the leader, looking serene despite the pain. "I'll be back on my feet tomorrow. Just don't let any human see me like this..."
He pointed to his leg which was in a pitiful state. After a few seconds, he continued:
"But I think by the time we get enough fans to complete the Lord's order, I'm good to lose my other leg next month."
"I'll take your place," Soonyoung announced, with determination despite his voice trembling with fear. "You've suffered enough as it is..."
"No! No... As long as he punishes only one of us, it's up to me to take the punishment! I owe you this..."
"Hyung, you don't owe us anything," Mingyu replied. "It's the four of us, together. And if you have to suffer, then we have to suffer too."
"Don't talk nonsense, Mingyu... When you've lived over 250 years as Stone Hunter, you'd do anything not to have to bear this suffering."
"So let us bear it for you!" Junhui insisted.
Seungcheol stubbornly shook his head, and the other three Stone Hunters sighed. There was a long moment of silence, which Mingyu finally broke:
"We're supposed to bring him five liters of Sapphire-Blood next month... How are we going to find that much?"
"We'll manage, as we've always managed," Seungcheol asserted, sounding confident.
"Hyung... He broke your leg," Mingyu squeaked. "He's never tortured you this much... We can't take the risk that he'll do worse to you..." After a few long seconds, the youngest of the four Stone Hunters suggested: "Minghao is a Sapphire-Blood..."
Seungcheol bristled. "No! No, we can't do that!"
"Hyung, I don't like the idea either... but I don't want the Lord to rip your arm off, or worse!"
"I'd rather lose an arm than touch one of the few humans who consider us friends," Seungcheol asserted dryly.
"It's only because they think we're like them... If they learned the truth, they'd be like the others..." Soonyoung gasped.
"It doesn't matter," continued Seungcheol. "They're our friends, and no matter how much we need Precious-Blood, we can't take it from our friends."
Mingyu hesitated, seeing how much his elder's injured leg was hurting him. Finally, he looked down and gave up.
"Guys," Seungcheol continued. "Let's make a promise. A blood pact. Let's swear that no matter how much we're threatened, no matter how much we suffer, we'll never touch a single drop of our members' blood."
His announcement seemed to catch the other three vampires off guard.
"I can't remember the last time I made a blood pact," Soonyoung admitted.
"And I've never made one," Mingyu confided.
Junhui was the first to make up his mind: "Let's do it," he said.
These words immediately convinced Soonyoung and Mingyu, who in turn agreed. Seungcheol then pulled up the sleeve of his sweater to reveal his arm. He exchanged glances with each of the Stone Hunters to make sure they wouldn't back down. Then he said:
"We promise never to touch the blood of our human friends."
Soonyoung nodded, then bent down and sank his fangs into Seungcheol's forearm. The leader barely recoiled – the pain of a bite was infinitesimal compared to the pain of a shattered leg. Soonyoung took a sip before stepping back to make way for Junhui and then Mingyu, who in turn bit their leader's arm to seal their pact with their leader's blood.
When this was done, Soonyoung in turn made the oath and presented his arm to the sharp canines of the other Hunters. He was then imitated by Junhui, then Mingyu. After these exchanges of bites, they looked at their arms. They all had six small, rapidly closing holes in their skin. Their blood pact was sealed.
As he watched the wounds close, Soonyoung looked up at the leader:
"Say, hyung. Your blood really doesn't taste bad for vampire blood."