Archive of Our Own

Yoongi was only twenty four when he was turned.

Once a talented pianist, thousands of people flocked to the capital just for the chance to listen to him perform. Many admired his hands for producing music that resonated with their souls. It was their memories of joy and sorrow, of triumph and struggles, of broken dreams and requited love.

His hands were his proudest feature, long and perfect for playing piano, and he took great care of them.

But on a moonless night, his life was ripped out of him and then forced back into him. Damned to walk this world as a creature of the night. And all because an ancient vampire was in love with his music, and wanted to listen to it for eternity.

Now his hands had become a weapon that could easily snap the necks of others into half if he so wanted.

That night, he passed out from the excruciating pain of being turned. When he woke up, terrified and confused, his throat burned with the desire to feed. His killer and saviour hovered over him, a twisted grin on his lips, eager to welcome him into his new life.

Yoongi never wanted to become a monster.

Only centuries later, his Sire was killed by hunters. His Sire could have escaped, but he sacrificed himself to protect Yoongi. It was with mixed feelings when Yoongi watched him fall. An acute pain had torn through his chest when the Sire bond disintegrated.

“Sir,” his butler, Taehyung says, breaking Yoongi out of his reverie. As the years passed, it seems as if Yoongi spent more time reminiscing on the past instead of focusing on the present. “Seokjin wishes to meet you. He claims to have a gift for you.”

“I don’t trust anything Seokjin has for me,” Yoongi replies dispassionately. He and Seokjin don’t get along at all. The older vampire is a stickler for tradition. He has always been annoyed with Yoongi for his refusal to prey on humans. Most vampires relished on the thrill of sucking humans dry, but Yoongi kept to blood bags. After Seol-ah, Yoongi withdrew from humans entirely.

“Sir, it is unwise to turn Seokjin away,” the elf says.

Yoongi sighs. “I know, Taehyung...Let him in.”

No one with any sense of self-preservation dared to cross Seokjin, at least to his face. He is easily one of the most dangerous vampire in the country, even if he isn’t the strongest. A vicious snake prepared to strike at once or kill you slowly with poison.

Yoongi slowly walks into the living room, where Seokjin has already nestled himself comfortably against the plush velvet couch. Taehyung stands next to Yoongi who takes his seat on an armchair.

“How have you been, Yoongi?” Seokjin asks with a sweet smile.

“It was fine until an unexpected guest came in,” Yoongi answers, thin lips curling into a mocking half-smile.

Seokjin’s smile never falters. “Pleased to hear that. As you should have heard, I have a gift for you.”

On cue, a boy dressed in a thin white t-shirt and boxers is pulled in by Seokjin’s guards and thrown to the floor next to Seokjin. His head is down, face covered by a mop of brown hair. Yoongi’s eyes flicker towards him for only a second with disinterest before turning back to Seokjin.

Yoongi frown. “What are you doing?”

Seokjin’s smile grows wider. He leans forward and gently strokes the boy’s hair, causing the boy to shudder under his touch. “He is my gift to you. Fresh, young blood. Bought him off in an auction. You’ve not had a single human around in this mansion for ages, Yoongi. It’s time for a change, isn’t it?”

Yoongi frowns with distaste at the mention of the blood auction. It’s an event where humans are auctioned off as blood slaves to vampires, and one of the many vampire traditions Yoongi views with much disdain. Occasionally feeding on random humans is fine; vampires still need to survive in some way. But taking a human prisoner is a practice that should have died before Yoongi was even born. The Vampire Council, an institution nearly as old as the oldest vampire, only regulates and punishes vampires’ crimes against one another. It does not care one bit about what vampires do to humans so long as they don’t get caught. Yoongi finds it unbelievably frustrating, though he doesn’t have the power to change it.

Voice flat and eyes hard, Yoongi replies, “I’m afraid I have to disagree, Seokjin. I’m satisfied with how things are now. I don’t need to make any changes.”

“But you’ve been lonely,” Seokjin insists. “More importantly, it is unbecoming of a vampire not to have a blood slave. You don’t even feed on fresh blood anymore; your eyes are a disgusting grey. You’re paler than most vampires. You are weak, Yoongi, and people are bound to notice.”

Yoongi knows Seokjin is referring to the vampire hunters. “I can fend for myself just fine. Having a blood slave is the old way of thinking.” He has always avoided the practice, not wanting be associated with it.

“It is the right way of thinking—”

“No. I will not take a blood slave,” Yoongi says with finality.

Seokjin’s red eyes flash menacingly at being interrupted, but his smile remains pleasant. “Well, since you don’t want to accept my gift, I guess I’ll have to throw him to my newborns. They’re always starving and out of control.” He throws his guards a look. One of them tugs on the boy’s hair roughly, lifting his head up, revealing eyes as dark as the night and lips as pale as the moon.

Yoongi’s hand tightens into a fist. Seol-ah had those same sharp eyes. So innocent and filled with life, but hidden behind them was a certain toughness.

Seokjin, that bastard. He must know too.

The boy hugs himself tightly to stop trembling. Instead of opening his mouth to beg for his life, he silently allows Seokjin’s guards to drag him out of the room, sending him towards certain death.

“Stop.” Yoongi finally relents through gritted teeth. “I’ll keep him since you so insisted. Thank you for the gift.” His fingernails scratch against the leather of his armchair, leaving ugly gashes. Seokjin must have noticed, but he doesn’t say anything and instead flash Yoongi a triumphant grin.

“You’ve gone soft, Yoongi,” Seokjin drawls and examines his own fingernails carefully, as if expecting this result all along. Knowing Seokjin, he most definitely did. He stands up from the couch to leave. “This was a great conversation. I hope to see him here next time I visit.”

When Seokjin and his entourage is gone and the door is shut, Yoongi curses loudly. He looks back at the boy, whose head is down again. “What’s your name?”

“P-Park Jimin,” the boy stutters. His voice is weak. Yoongi wonders how long he’s been starved.

“How old are you?” The boy is so tiny, he can’t be older than—

“Twenty two.”

Still so young, even younger than when he was turned. He wonders how Jimin became an item for sale at the blood auction. Whether Jimin has a family waiting for him to return. But Jimin could never return now, not when he had entered into the world of vampires, where the only exit is death. Yoongi stops himself there. The last thing he needs is to be overly concerned over another mortal. Yoongi nods at Taehyung. “Taehyung, help him settle in.”

Jimin flinches when Taehyung takes his arm but otherwise follows him down the hallway obediently.

Tearing his eyes away from Jimin’s back, Yoongi reclines against the armchair and sighs.

Even in the 21st century, vampires don’t want to make their presence known. It’s troublesome, and no one wants to be treated like monsters. Abominations. For the lower-class vampires, it makes sneak attacks on drunkards at night much more complicated.

Not to mention the vampire hunters, led by the Hunters’ Association, who wanted to rid the world of all vampires. They were cunning and willing to resort to trickery to achieve their goals. All vampires opposed their twisted notion of justice, that somehow all vampires deserved to be exterminated because of what they feed on. As if there aren’t good vampires and bad vampires, just like in humans.

Sometimes, Yoongi finds himself wondering how Seol-ah could stand to pretend to be in love with him, if all hunters found vampires repulsive. She must’ve been a brilliant actress.

Wanting no more to do with humans, Yoongi doesn’t approach Jimin although they’re living in the same house. He has Taehyung to take Jimin’s blood everyday and store the blood in the fridge.

But when he drank Jimin’s blood for the first time, he was overwhelmed by how good it tasted. Despite being chilled, it tastes so sweet, so delicious on his palate that he might never want to drink anything else. Even Seol-ah’s blood had never made him feel this way.

He can’t help but wonder how it would taste if he drank directly from Jimin’s neck, when the blood is still warm and with the heat of a human body against him.

Jimin must sense Yoongi’s weirdness whenever he sees Jimin, because he almost never bumps into Jimin in the mansion. He hears from Taehyung though, that Jimin made friends with the other servants and is settling in nicely, so he doesn’t worry about Jimin’s well-being.

A month passes just like that.

Yoongi spends most of his time sleeping. Since he lives in isolation, there isn’t much for him to do. He doesn’t think of Jimin for a while until the day, he hears piano and quiet singing from the music room. Fists clenched, he quickly walks to the room, where the door is left slightly ajar. Looking in, Jimin is seated in front of the grand piano that Yoongi hasn’t touched since his Sire passed away. Eyes closed, he plays the piano and sings, voice velvety and angelic but softer than the piano. His music tells a story of loss and regret, and of pining and heartache.

By the door, Yoongi listens, entranced, like Jimin’s music has cast a spell on him. Something strange stirs in his chest, snarling and grappling at his heart. The spell breaks when the song ends. Yoongi asks, tone harsher than he intended, “Who said you could come in?”

Jimin opens his eyes and almost jumps when he sees Yoongi. “I’m sorry! The room wasn’t locked and no one said I couldn’t come in!” Jimin squeaks, eyes widening. He immediately stands up from the piano and moves away, hands tugging on the hem of his shirt. It’s hard to stay angry when Jimin looks like this.

It’s also a little unusual, how Yoongi can’t sense any fear from him, not like when they first met. He looks at Jimin intently, studying him. “You don’t seem to be afraid of me.”

“You saved my life. It’s been a month, and you never bothered or hurt me either,” Jimin counters.

That‘s fair enough. “Don’t you miss home?” Yoongi asks with a little suspicion.

“I...I miss my younger brother,” Jimin answers softly. He looks down at the floor and rubs his feet together. He looks back up at Yoongi expectantly, eyes shining. “Can I visit him?”

An escape attempt? Yoongi isn’t sure if he can trust Jimin yet. “...I’ll think about it.”

“Oh.” The light in Jimin’s eyes fade, and Yoongi almost feels guilty.

“You play the piano.” Yoongi nods towards it, changing the subject instead to the question he was waiting to ask.

Jimin blinks, probably shocked that Yoongi is actually making conversation with him after one month of ignoring him. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other self-consciously. “I just learnt a bit,” he says modestly.

“Yes. You’re not very good,” Yoongi comments. That is true if you compare Jimin to Yoongi when he was at his peak; an unfair comparison.

“Oh,” Jimin exclaims, his expression morphing into one caught between being embarrassed and offended. “Did you used to play? The piano was very dusty when I came in, like it’s been untouched for very long. It’s kind of out of tune too.”

Yoongi averts his gaze to the piano, emotions unreadable. “I did.”

“Why did you stop?”

Yoongi hesitates at answering the question, and the unwillingness to answer must show on his face, because Jimin quickly asks something else. “Can you play something for me? You must be better than me, right?”

Jimin’s tone is challenging, and again, Yoongi hesitates, before slowly sitting down in front of the piano. He places his fingers on the keys and pauses. It’s been so long that it feels awkward, almost foreign to be doing this. He feels like he’s been transported back to his childhood, the seven year old him touching the instrument for the first time in wonder.

But Jimin’s music rekindled a dormant urge in him. So Yoongi starts playing a Chopin piece, Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15. He stumbles a bit at first, and makes a couple of mistakes, but soon it’s like something inside him has been unlocked and his muscle memory and confidence flow back. With every note, he gets better, and his heart soars even though the music is melancholic.

When the piece ends, Yoongi runs his hand across the fall board fondly, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. He didn’t realise how much he missed playing the piano. It was magical how the piano accepted him even after neglecting it for so long, as though he’s never left.

Jimin doesn’t try to hide how enthralled he was.

“You play really well. That was hauntingly beautiful,” Jimin says in awe. His voice drops to a whisper. “I think I can almost feel your pain.”

His compliment makes Yoongi feel oddly proud, even if he personally thinks his performance was far lacking.

“Oh, and you have beautiful hands too,” Jimin blurts. He looks down at his own short, chubby fingers and smiles sheepishly. “Unlike mine.”

Yoongi cracks a smile at the human’s weird fixation point. He shrugs. “That doesn’t mean you can’t play well. I can teach you.” Even Yoongi is surprised when the words came out of his mouth. Why is he so willing to help this human?

“I would love to learn from you! Thank you so much!” Jimin beams. Is his smile as bright as the sun? Yoongi has forgotten how it feels to be bathed in sunlight. But maybe it feels similar to this.

Like being dazzled and scorched at the same time.

After living for six hundreds years, Yoongi thought he’s got life all figured out. He has come to the conclusion that there’s nothing that can definitely hurt you in this world. As long as you are callous and indifferent enough, as long as you treat yourself as a walking corpse. Polish your heart into a smooth rock, and nothing will ever be able to damage you anymore.

But is there a point in existing if you keep yourself closed off from the world and don’t feel?

Yoongi is starting to doubt his own conclusion.

“Sir, you seem happier recently,” Taehyung comments after reporting to Yoongi how his stocks are doing.

Yoongi had inherited his Sire’s tremendous wealth. He used half of it to set up a charitable trust partly out of selfish reasons, to make up for the sins he had committed as an unrestrained newborn vampire. With the rest, he opened a theatre hosting all kinds of music performances. That was where he met Seol-ah, a musical actress who claimed she wanted to make it to Broadway. It was a short but intense and passionate love, at least on Yoongi’s part. After he realised it was all fake, that he had invested his everything into a dream that couldn’t come true, he had the theatre demolished and used the money to invest in stocks instead. There was so much that he never had to work another day in his life.

Yoongi stretches out against the back of his chair, stifling a yawn at how boring the information about stocks were. He raises an eyebrow, not realising that he had been happier. “Do I?”

Taehyung nods. “Excuse me for saying this, Sir, but you seem less...undead now.” A hint of a playful sparkle twinkles in his eyes.

Yoongi shoots him a look at the joke, but Taehyung smiles it off. After all, his butler knows, more than anyone, that Yoongi is a paper tiger most of the time.

“Sir, this may not be my place to ask, but is it because of Jimin?” Taehyung inquires respectfully.

“Taehyung, you have been with me long enough to know that we’re more friends than employer and employee. You insisted to call me Sir even though I said you don’t have to,” Yoongi replies. “You can definitely ask me this. Is it because of Jimin? Maybe. I’m not sure.”

Taehyung’s normally cheerful expression turns serious. “I’m glad that you’re in high spirits, but I would advise you to be more cautious, Sir.”

“Why? You think there’s something wrong with Jimin?”

“No Sir, at least, nothing I can tell yet. But Seokjin sent him to you, and—”

“And I don’t trust Seokjin. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just not sure what exactly he wants from me. There doesn’t seem to be anything he can achieve by doing this,” Yoongi continues for Taehyung, hands gripping the edge of his chair tightly. His phone pings and lights up then. It’s a message from Seokjin. Yoongi reads it aloud. “He wants to know if I’m happy with the bl—with Jimin.”

Yoongi suddenly realises what the uneasiness he had been feeling was.

He’s afraid of Jimin turning out to be a spy sent by Seokjin. That makes him frustrated with himself.

As you grow older, you grow more and more afraid of losing. And you become less and less courageous. So many people have left him in his long life. His family, his human friends, his Sire, and Seol-ah. At least his servants are all elfs. They might even outlive him.

He doesn’t want to always have to hold back merely because he’s afraid.

Which is why, despite Taehyung’s warning, he ignores Seokjin’s message and continues to spend time with Jimin. Listening to Jimin talk about his family and life before being auctioned off. Watching an enthusiastic Jimin help the gardener water and tend to the flowers, help the chef prepare food, and even help the maids clean the house because “he doesn’t have anything else to do anyway”. Reading books in a comfortable silence in Yoongi’s library. Jimin eating and sighing from contentment from how good the food is while Yoongi sips his blood from a champagne glass. Teaching Jimin piano. Jimin’s shy smile and rosy blush when their hands brush against each other, making Yoongi want to eat him.

“Do you never go out?” Jimin asks one day after their lesson.

Yoongi squints suspiciously at Jimin. “If this is supposed to be the beginning of an escape plan—”

“It’s not!” Jimin quickly denies. “It’s just...suffocating to be cooped in all the time. Don’t you want to go out and breathe in the fresh air? Be around people?”

Yoongi doesn’t even want to reply to the suggestion about meeting people. “You know, vampires can’t go out in the day.”

“There’re still plenty of things we can do at night! Come on, please? Don’t other vampires take their blood slaves out too?” Jimin looks up at Yoongi with wide, pitiful eyes.

Abruptly, Yoongi’s expression darkens. “You’re not a blood slave. Don’t call yourself that,” Yoongi says sternly.

Jimin shrinks back a bit, slightly startled. “Sorry. I just — I thought blood auctions were supported by most vampires since they’re so large and still ongoing,” Jimin mumbles, his tone bitter.

“Not me. I don’t agree with it at all,” Yoongi says firmly.

“I won’t say that again. If you don’t want to go outside, it’s fine too.” Jimin looks away, bottom lip jutting out in a small pout.

Finally, Yoongi sighs and relents. “Alright.”

They end up visiting Namsan Tower, where neither of them had ever been to.

“Isn’t it so beautiful?” Jimin marvels when they look at the night view of Seoul from the top of the tower.

“Yes it is,” Yoongi answers, though his eyes are on Jimin instead.

After leaving the tower, they take a stroll along Cheonggyecheon Stream.

“We could pass off as a couple too, couldn’t we? But with your age, we’re more like a grandfather and grandson duo.” Jimin giggles as they admire the paper lanterns and light show there. Many couples are here as well, holding hands and whispering sweet nothings to each other.

Something about looking like a couple makes Yoongi’s heart clench in his chest. He jokes it off, pretending to be offended. “Were you always this cheeky?”

“I guess my true personality came out after I found out you’re basically as dangerous as a...kitten.”

“A kitten,” Yoongi repeats flatly. “Maybe I should show you what a grandfather vampire is capable of.” He opens his mouth and elongates his fangs. Jimin yelps and tears off running slowly.

In the heart of Seoul, laughing and chasing after Jimin, surrounded by people, he almost forgets that he’s a vampire.

It’s 2am when they finally decide to return home and are attacked by a group of masked hunters out of nowhere.

They had been walking through a shortcut in an abandoned alleyway, Yoongi debating whether to just hold Jimin’s hand because it’s right there almost brushing against his own, when someone drops from the above, aiming for his head. Owing to his supernatural reflexes, Yoongi grabs Jimin’s arm and dodges in time.

In a blink of an eye, they’re surrounded by five masked men and women standing in a semicircle. In their hands, silver daggers glint in the moonlight. Blessed weapons, Yoongi is sure by the rune markings on their hilts.

“A filthy vampire and his human mate? How revolting!” The one Yoongi assumes to be the leader of the group sneers.

Yoongi bares his teeth in a snarl, revealing two very sharp, very long canines. He pulls Jimin behind him protectively, who’s trembling, and whispers, “You’ll be safe, Jimin. I’ll make sure of it.”

He glares at the leader with cold fury. “I haven’t done anything to warrant an attack.”

The leader spits, “You think you’re a saint just because you have grey eyes? Your very existence is an abomination!”

Again with that holier-than-thou reasoning that Yoongi is sick of hearing. It’s not as if he chose to become a vampire. It’s not as if he could survive by feeding on anything other than human blood. It’s not as if humans kill other animals for food without batting an eyelid.

Knowing that there’s no point in reasoning with the hunters, he surges forward first to leave more space between Jimin and their fight. At least he has the advantage of night vision in this dimly lit alleyway. Since he attacked without warning, he quickly manages to take one down by biting on his arm, hard enough to crush bone, and flinging him aside.

The hunters waste no time before the rest of them lunge towards Yoongi at once. It is a tougher fight than Yoongi imagined. He doesn’t have much experience in fighting, especially against trained vampire hunters. Someone slashes his arm when he’s trying to hold off two hunters with only his bare hands and fangs, and another stabs him in his stomach. With a muffled grunt of pain, he stumbles back.

“I called the police! You all better leave before they arrive!” Jimin suddenly shouts.

“Do you think we care—” The one who stabbed Yoongi starts to shoot back, and the split second of distraction is enough for Yoongi to break his arms and kick him away. The leader slices his shoulder. Growling, Yoongi snaps his neck. His eyes are flashing red by the time he incapacitates the final two. With the leader dead, the four survivors scrambles away.

“You are weak, Yoongi.” Seokjin’s voice rings through his mind as Yoongi collapses on the bloodied ground, wounds burning and head spinning with thirst.

“Yoongi! Are you okay?” Jimin gasps, running over to steady Yoongi against a wall. He kneels down beside Yoongi. The vampire’s face is even paler than normal, almost translucent.

“I...I need…” Yoongi clamps his mouth shut. He needs fresh blood to speed up his healing to counteract the venom coursing through his bloodstream. Yet, in his current weakened state, he doesn’t trust himself to have the self-control not to sap Jimin of all his blood, especially with how good Jimin’s blood will taste.

Even though Yoongi doesn’t continue, Jimin seems to understand. “Drink my blood,” Jimin urges, pushing his wrist towards Yoongi’s fangs. He makes a noise in frustration when Yoongi squeezes his eyes shut and refuses. Taking matters into his own hands, Jimin cuts his wrist with Yoongi’s fangs.

With the overpowering scent of blood right under his nose, finally Yoongi could no longer restrain himself. Half-conscious, his mind in a hazy daze, he sucks on the crimson liquid greedily, mouthful after mouthful. Through the haze, he thinks he hears Jimin suck in sharply and feels Jimin slowly lose his strength and fall onto him.

His last thought before blacking out is to stop.

Yoongi comes to in his own bed. His butler hovers by his bed with watchful eyes.

“How did I…?” When Yoongi looks around and doesn’t see Jimin, his heart drops. What if he unintentionally— “Where’s Jimin?”

“I got worried when you weren’t back yet and didn’t answer your phone, Sir. So I took the liberty of tracking your phone and found both you and Jimin unconscious,” Taehyung answers. “Jimin is recuperating in his room because he lost a lot of blood. He wanted to wait here until you woke up but he fainted again. Rest assured that he’s alright, he just needs to rest.”

Yoongi lets out the breath he didn’t realise he was holding in relief. “How long have I been out?”

“A day, Sir.”

Yoongi nods, and he’s already halfway off the bed, eager to go see Jimin when his phone rings then. It’s from Seokjin. Yoongi groans. That man really knows when the best time to call is.

He doesn’t want to answer the call, but he had already ignored Seokjin’s last text and he doesn’t want Seokjin kicking down the door and barging into his house. Unwillingly, he taps on ‘Accept’.

“Hello, Yoongi. Are you well?”

“Seokjin. What do you want this time?”

Seokjin cuts the pleasantries and goes straight to the point. “I heard you and your little blood slave went out around Seoul last night. Getting attached?” Yoongi can even picture the smug smile that’s surely on Seokjin’s face.

“Do you have nothing else to do that you’re stalking me?”

Seokjin laughs heartily. He has a laughter that doesn’t match his elegant looks, the kind where he throws his head back and his shoulders shake. “It’s good to hear that you’re doing well, Yoongi. I also heard you were attacked last night.”

“If this is because you want to say ‘I told you so’, I’m not in the mood—”

Seokjin’s voice turns sharp then, and Yoongi imagines him narrowing his eyes. “That, and how strange it is that you survived.”

Yoongi opens his mouth in a retort, but stops because he knows it’s true. “It was odd that they didn’t seem like they were trying to kill me. No one delivered a fatal blow. After one died, the others  just fled.”

Seokjin hums in agreement. “I’ll investigate this for you, because I know you’re not nearly resourceful enough to find anything.”

“Oh. Thanks, I guess.” Yoongi bites back an insult. His expression is thoughtful when he hangs up the phone. While Seokjin and him constantly engage in conflicts, the other had never actually harmed him.

Jimin bursts into the room just as Yoongi’s halfway to the door to find him. Once he sees Yoongi, he tackles Yoongi in a hug.

“You’re okay...What a relief,” Jimin says, burying his head in the crook of Yoongi’s shoulder.

It’s a huge problem, because Jimin’s bare neck is so close and Jimin smells so absolutely divine. Immediately, Yoongi is reminded of how good Jimin’s blood had tasted last night and the thought refuses to get out of his mind. Holding his breath and clenching his teeth, he places both hands on Jimin and gently pushes Jimin off him. “I’m fine, Jimin. I want to apologise for last night. I—”

“Don’t!” Jimin protests, interrupting Yoongi by placing his finger on Yoongi’s lips. Oh, Yoongi wishes he could bite and suck on it. “Don’t apologise. You saved my life. I saved yours. Now we’re even.”

He removes his fingers from Yoongi’s lips and smiles, testing the limits of Yoongi’s self-control.

“You should have ran away,” Yoongi says, hands sliding down from Jimin’s shoulders to his elbows.

“I couldn’t leave you alone.”

“Why?”

Jimin’s gaze is heavy, loaded with emotions. “You know why. I just don’t know about you.”

What does Yoongi know?

At first, he only took Jimin in because of he reminded him of Seol-ah with those eyes. But from his interactions with Jimin, he knows now that Jimin isn’t like Seol-ah at all.

Jimin is friendly and polite, but he keeps a distance with everyone. Seol-ah was kind and had a lot of love to give. Back when Yoongi still had human servants, she didn’t order them around or belittle them, and treated them with respect.

That was also why her betrayal hurt him so much. Yoongi never saw it coming. How could he?

Seol-ah had a warm tenderness to her. Jimin is youthful and vibrant. Even trapped in this gloomy mansion, he went about his days with vigour. It shows especially through the way he practises playing the piano. Yoongi doubts he was that enthusiastic when he played the piano. He was naturally so good at it that every progress he made, he took for granted.

Before, his undead life was mundane and dull. Being with Jimin makes him feel alive.

It’s exhilarating.

Yoongi knows that he loves Jimin. He can’t resist any longer. Gingerly, he cups Jimin’s face, careful not to hurt him, and kisses Jimin’s lips. Jimin gasps like he hadn’t expected it before kissing him back. They taste each other, Jimin going pliant as Yoongi encircles his waist. Lost in the kiss, Yoongi forgets that he’s a vampire, a bloodsucker, a monster. In this moment, he is only an ordinary man drunk in love, kissing someone who he loves and who loves him back. He feels like his heart is being filled up.

They end up sitting on Yoongi’s bed, with Jimin straddling him.

“Bite me,” Jimin whispers in half-delirium.

Yoongi pulls back immediately.

Jimin’s lips set into a frown. “Why don’t you want to drink from me? You always got Taehyung to take my blood instead.”

“It’s not...Jimin, it’s not something you…” Yoongi trails off. He takes a step back, not knowing what to say, but Jimin reaches out to grab his arm.

Jimin’s eyes are lit up with a fierce determination. “I want to.”

He tilts his head to the side, baring his neck. Yoongi’s eyes glow red. He feels the predator inside him stir.

“Are you really sure, Jimin?” Yoongi whispers, his mouth hovering a breath away from the pulse point on Jimin’s neck.

“Just do it, Yoongi,” Jimin huffs.

Yoongi lowers his head into Jimin’s neck, lets his fangs sink into the tender flesh. It feels like his nature had been calling for him all this time. Jimin whimpers softly and flinches away on instinct, but Yoongi’s big hands hold his waist still like a vice grip. This time, Yoongi draws the blood out slowly, savouring the taste on his tongue. Now that he’s fully conscious, Jimin’s blood taste like nothing he’s ever had before, like the sweetest nectar, velvety and rich, quenching the thirst he didn’t know he had.

As pleasure runs through Yoongi’s veins, he realises the endorphins in his vampire venom are working as he can taste the desire in Jimin’s blood. Before he knows it, Jimin’s body grows lax against his, overwhelmed by the ecstasy the venom brings.

“Oh,” Jimin breathes, pressing his body closer to Yoongi, neck tilting even more to give Yoongi better access. “Ah, Ah, Yoongi....”

Jimin twitches in his lap, and Yoongi feels his boner press against his own. “Yoongi,” he whines, rolling his hips to bring their erections together, seeking relief.

“You need to tell me what you want, Jimin.” Yoongi stops sucking and instead plant kisses all over Jimin’s neck.

“Want you...In me…” Jimin whines, continuing to grind down on Yoongi.

Yoongi gives him what he wants.

Just before Jimin reaches his climax, Yoongi bites down on his neck. Yoongi rides out his own orgasm. When he’s done, he gently pries his fangs from Jimin’s neck and licks the two puncture wounds there to stop the bleeding. Jimin falls asleep quickly and Yoongi cleans the both of them up before joining him in dreamland.

He wakes up to Jimin watching him fondly.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Jimin whispers with a smile.

Yoongi groans and shifts so he’s cuddling Jimin. “You’re not scared of me?”

“Not really.” Jimin reaches out to smooth the wrinkles between Yoongi’s eyebrows.

“Why did you avoid me at first if you weren’t scared of me?” Yoongi suddenly asks.

“I knew — because you took me in and never laid a hand on me — that you are kind. But Taehyung told me, that I’m the first blood slave whom you have kept in years. And he said he had an inkling why, and warned me not to abuse your kindness.”

Trust his butler to look out for him.

“Are you curious? Why I kept you?”

“I am. But I won’t make you tell me, unless you want to.”

Yoongi goes silent for a few moments. “Maybe another time.”

“Okay,” Jimin says, not a hint of anger or disappointment in his voice. He looks at Yoongi fondly as the other stifles a yawn and closes his eyes.

“You like watching me sleep?” Yoongi asks with a low chuckle, eyes still closed.

Jimin nods. “You look more human when you’re asleep. Relaxed. Like there’s nothing bothering you.”

Yoongi contemplates this for a while. “Do you prefer me being a human?” He doesn’t dare to look at Jimin.

There’s a short pause. Yoongi’s heart constricts during the wait. Then Jimin leans in to press a soft kiss on Yoongi’s temple. “I love you the way you are now. I wish you would love yourself a little more, Yoongi.”

At his words, a shudder runs through Yoongi from his chest to his lower stomach.

“I’ll try.” Yoongi doesn’t think he’s capable of doing so yet, but he’ll try. For Jimin, his sunshine.

For the first time in a long while, Yoongi feels loved. Like his love has been reciprocated, the kind he didn’t have with Seol-ah.

He wants it to last forever.

It’s not a secret to anyone in the mansion that Yoongi and Jimin are now together. Taehyung doesn’t seem as guarded towards Jimin anymore and congratulates Yoongi on finally opening his heart up. The maids cast him sly and teasing glances when they spot the two being intimate with each other, which is very often.

Yoongi likes the carefree routine they have settled into. He likes holding hands with Jimin. He likes calling Jimin ‘sunshine’ while patting his hair. He likes feeding on Jimin while Jimin is squirming on his lap. He likes the sweetness of Jimin’s blood lingering on his tongue while he fucks Jimin against the wall, propping the other up with his superhuman strength. He likes the sound of Jimin’s loud moans and pants right next to his ears.

Secretly, Yoongi goes out after sundown to buy couple rings. He thinks he’s ready to ask Jimin to be his mate. As long as Jimin drinks his blood in small amounts, he’ll stop ageing and grow stronger, almost becoming immortal like Yoongi. Then he’ll be able to initiate Jimin into the vampire clan as his human mate and Jimin will be able to visit his family again and pretend nothing has happened.

He thinks — hopes — Jimin would say yes.

The problem is, happy times don’t last forever.

Yoongi is in his room, staring at the couple rings, wondering when he should pop the question. Taehyung isn’t being particularly helpful.

“I’ve seen those dramas where they hide the ring in a cake,” Taehyung suggests.

Yoongi is doubtful. “What if he accidentally eats the ring?”

Taehyung sighs. “That’s the tenth suggestion you’ve shot down, Sir. Why not just ask him outright?”

Yoongi’s phone rings then. It’s Seokjin. Suddenly, he has the crazy idea to ask Seokjin for help, but he dismisses that thought as quickly as it came up.

“Seokjin. To what do I owe the pleasure of your voice this early in the day?” Although, it’s already noon.

“Yoongi. I need you to listen to me. My investigation has led me to the suspicion that your little blood slave is actually a vampire hunter.”

The world seems to crumble around Yoongi and everything fades to static. His voice comes out as a strangled whisper. “No.” It can’t be. There must be a mistake. Either that, or Seokjin is lying to mess with him again.

“I know it’s hard to take in now,” Seokjin continues, his tone sympathetic. Any other time Yoongi would have scoffed, but his mind now is swamped with disbelief. “We can meet to talk about this. I have gathered evidence that is very compelling. I’m sure that little human is related to the Hunters’ Association.”

Yoongi takes a deep breath. “Ok. I will — Let’s meet. Now.”

“Alright, you know where my house is.”

Before Yoongi hangs up the phone, he hears a loud bang and several gunshots. He’s gripped with a sudden bad feeling.

“Seokjin?”

Seokjin’s voice sounds far away. “Who are you — Hunters?”

The bad feeling Yoongi has intensifies. “What’s happening over there? Seokjin?”

“Yoongi.” Seokjin’s voice is scarily level even as the sounds of massacre fill the background. “If I die today, be sure to visit Namjoon’s grave for me, and tell him I kept my promise.”

Seokjin knows his Sire? What promise is he talking about?

Yoongi gets no answers as the line goes dead. Immediately, he grabs his cloak and heads for the door.

“It’s daylight, Sir,” Taehyung, having heard everything, warns, hot on his heels.

“I have to go,” Yoongi simply replies, not stopping.

He runs into Jimin at the porch.

“Where are you going, Yoongi?” Jimin stands up from where he was kneeling down, tending to the flowers.

Yoongi stops running. A burning urge eats him up from the inside, to ask Jimin if he’s really related to the hunters. The rings that he always carries around in his pocket suddenly feel like stones, weighing him down.

He decides against confronting Jimin now. What if Seokjin is wrong? “I need to go somewhere.”

“Where?”

Yoongi shakes his head and starts for the gate. “I’ll tell you later.”

Jimin tries to grab his arm, but Yoongi shakes him off. “No, wait, stop!”

Yoongi stops in his tracks.

Taehyung is right behind him, about to interfere, but Yoongi holds up his hand to stop him.

“But Sir—”

“Wait,” Yoongi orders. He hardly ever uses a commanding tone on his butler, but he does now, or Taehyung won’t step back.

Yoongi’s gaze slowly travels down Jimin’s face to the wooden stake the human is pointing at his chest, then back up again.

“Sunshine?” Yoongi’s voice quivers and breaks at the last syllable. The stake is made of ash wood and blessed. It’s a hunter’s weapon.

It looks exactly like the one Seol-ah used against him a century ago.

Maybe Yoongi had already known from the first time he held the boy’s gaze. That Jimin was a death trap disguised as sweet love. His sunshine that burns his skin.

Maybe he had hoped for it to be different this time.

Or maybe he had just yearned for the sweet release of death.

With a rueful smile, Yoongi holds Jimin’s gaze. Jimin, his Jimin, his sunshine, whose fingers are wrapped tightly around the stake, not letting go.

In that moment, Yoongi gets flashbacks to the day Seol-ah pulled out a stake concealed in the skirt of her wedding dress. She did not hesitate before stabbing it into Yoongi’s heart. He barely survived. In a blink, Taehyung was quick enough to pull the stake out and Yoongi had sunk his teeth into her neck instinctively and ripped her throat out.

The bloodied wedding dress was burnt, along with all his memories of them.

Yoongi once thought he could tell people apart from their music. Was he wrong about Jimin and his music?

“I’m sorry, Yoongi. Please, just stay here,” Jimin pleads. His expression is torn. Yoongi has never seen him this distressed, not even when he could have died on the day they met.

Yoongi inhales sharply, struggling at words that wouldn’t come. Eventually, he settles for the simplest question, “Why?”

“I grew up a hunter,” Jimin says, confirming Yoongi’s worst fears.

Yoongi sniggers. The sniggers turn into bitter laughter. As he laughs at the incredulity of the situation, Jimin just looks at him with anguish in his eyes. “You hunters overestimate me. I’m not as powerful as you think, to send someone to gain my trust and — Oh. Is all this because I killed Seol-ah?”

“...Yes. The Heads of the Association were furious to know that you killed one of their best. They needed to try again and make it twice as painful,” Jimin replies. “This isn’t how we usually do things. Seol-ah acted on her own. She was...confident in her acting skills. Wanted to put her craft to some use.”

So he was Seol-ah’s little project to prove that acting could be a vampire-killing skill. Good to know.

“So everything was all a trap? You ending up at the blood auction? You getting close to me? You saying you...love me? Was it disgusting, having to do all this with a monster?” His voice grows weaker as he asks the questions. He asks them anyway, even if he already knows the answer.

Jimin’s eyes pinch with tears, but they don’t fall. The hand holding the stake starts to tremble. “Everything was part of the plan...but my feelings weren’t. They were real. I meant it when I said I love you.”

“I don’t know if I can believe you. Are you going to kill me right here? Why aren’t you doing it yet? What are you waiting for?” With every word, Yoongi drives the stake closer to his chest, until it pierces skin.

Shaking his head, Jimin drops the stake with a sob. He tries to reach for Yoongi but the vampire pulls away, and his hands fall to his sides, balled into fists. “Yoongi, please, I really love you, you can’t go there—”

“Leave if you’re not going to kill me, sunshine. I can’t look at you right now. And I’m going, unless you kill me right here,” Yoongi says firmly, eyes a lifeless red.

Jimin’s shoulders sag and he finally steps aside to clear Yoongi’s path. His eyes are so sad, that Yoongi has to avert his gaze.

“Come on, Taehyung,” Yoongi says. He fights the urge to look back as he leaves.

With their speed enhanced by Taehyung’s elven magic, they reach Seokjin’s house in under five minutes. He hopes Seokjin would be able to at least hold them off for so long. A feeling of dread rises in him when he sees the house painted red but it disappears as soon as he steps in.

As usual, Seokjin proved to be too stubborn to kill despite being ambushed by a team of fifteen elite vampire hunters. The hunters are armed with guns loaded with silver bullets, and silver knives and ash wood stakes strapped onto their belts. Three of them are already down, left to bleed to death after having their throats ripped open.

Seokjin is bleeding from a gash on his forehead but still standing. His guards aren’t so lucky; lives were traded. Two of the vampires and one elf are decapitated. Only two guards, each with varying degrees of injuries, are still able to fight. They’re smart enough to force the hunters into close combat to reduce the advantage of the guns.

Yoongi forces himself to clear his mind of Jimin and focus on the fight. Relying on the element of surprise, he and Taehyung take down one hunter each, and now it’s five of them against ten hunters. The odds aren’t bad.

“Who’s the weak one now,” Yoongi doesn’t forget to say, as he engages two hunters in combat. He dodges a vicious swing of a knife and punches one hard in the stomach, sending the hunter flying.

“I had it under control,” Seokjin shoots back as he snaps the neck of a hunter with frightening agility and renewed vigour.

Yoongi snatches a knife, careful not to touch the blade, and slashes another hunter. “That’s why you were on the brink of death before I stepped in?”

“Keep talking, and you’ll be the one on the edge of a cliff when this fight is over, Yoongi,” Seokjin says sweetly, and Yoongi shuts up then.

The fight drags on, the team of hunters proving to be experienced and formidable, until Jimin appears out of nowhere plants himself in the middle of the fight. “Wait, please stop fighting!”

No one reacts except for Yoongi, who stiffens briefly. It takes Jimin blocking an attack by his fellow hunter meant for Taehyung for the battle to come to a standstill. It’s a stare down between the hunters and the vampires, with Jimin in the middle.

“Park Jimin, what the fuck do you think you’re doing! Have you forgotten your mission?” One hunter hisses as he holds up his twin silver blades defensively in front of him. No one makes a move.

Jimin blanches. His body is rigid, face pale and expression conflicted, not knowing which side to stand by. “Sorry, I just— I just can’t do this. I can’t hurt him.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? We’re hunters, we kill vampires,” another of his comrades snaps.

“Not all vampires deserved to be killed,” Jimin tries to reason with them.

“They’re vermins. Literal scums. Have you been spending too much time with that vampire? Did you get brainwashed?” The third hunter sneers.

“There are innocent vampires too; you don’t even know if he’s done anything wrong! We’re no different from murderers if we don’t establish their guilt first!” Jimin refutes in anger.

“Don’t compare us to those filthy blood sucking leeches!” The first hunter rages. “Are you turning your back on the Association?”

“But—”

“Enough!” Yoongi seethes. He avoids looking at Jimin. “This isn’t the first time we had this debate. These numbskulls will never understand our side. Are you going to continue your suicide mission or not?”

Seokjin takes this time to wipe the blood off his face. Unlike Yoongi, he addresses Jimin directly. “He’s right, little hunter. You’ll have to make a choice too, you know.”

The other hunters exchange nervous looks. Only seven of them are left, and Jimin doesn’t seem to want to help them. However, one of them bravely charges forward and the rest follows. It’s chaos again, with Jimin standing near the door, anxiously biting his bottom lip.

A hunter manages to fire a shot at Yoongi, lodging a silver bullet into his right arm and crippling it. He muffles a grunt of pain as he stumbles, gripping the injured arm tightly. No one seems to notice except Taehyung, who wants to help but he’s surrounded and unable to break through.

“Sir!” Taehyung shouts as the hunter moves in quickly for the kill, knife in hand.

That’s when Jimin rushes in and puts himself in between Yoongi and the knife. Before a shocked Yoongi can push him out of harm’s way, he grabs the blade with his bare hand. Blood flows out of the wound and trickles onto the floor.

Yoongi sees red. A strangled cry tears through the air as he rips into the hunter’s throat before his opponent can aim his gun. He continues his rampage on the rest. The rage he couldn’t let out on Jimin, he lets it out on the hunters here. The ominous glow in his red eyes finally fade after all the hunters are dead.

Jimin snaps out of his trance then. He releases his grip on the knife in a sudden movement, as if he only now realises that he’s bleeding.

Seokjin staggers and collapses on the floor, panting heavily.

“You alright?” Yoongi asks, concerned, helping him up immediately.

“Don’t worry, I carry blood on me at all times for such situations,” Seokjin mutters as he takes out a blood bag from under his coat and tears into it with his fangs.

Yoongi looks around the wrecked house. “Where are your humans?”

“Told them to run as soon as the hunters arrived,” Seokjin says nonchalantly.

Yoongi arches his eyebrows in surprise. He thought Seokjin would have left them to die.

“Regarding what you said about my Sire—” Yoongi starts to ask. However, Seokjin nods towards Jimin, who’s still awkwardly alone in a corner, unable to approach them. Taehyung is glaring at Jimin while Seokjin’s guards are oblivious to what’s going on.

“Shouldn’t you talk to your little lover first?” Seokjin reminds as he fixes Jimin with a piercing stare.

Yoongi’s expression hardens. Now that he’s off his adrenaline rush, the mouthwatering scent of Jimin’s blood is assaulting his senses and tempting him to move closer and lick all that blood off Jimin’s palm. He tries to minimise his breathing and refuses to make eye contact with Jimin. It hurts too much.

Seeing that Yoongi isn’t going to acknowledge him, Jimin walks forward. “Yoongi, can we please talk?” He lifts a hand like he wants to touch Yoongi for comfort. When Yoongi subtly moves to avoid it, Jimin’s expression falters and he lowers his hand in a balled fist.

“I need time, sunshine,” Yoongi finally decides.

“Alright. I will give you time. Just please, let me talk to you after that,” Jimin says, eyes dull. He casts one last long, heart-wrenching glance at Yoongi before taking a deep breath and walking away.

Yoongi goes back to his self-imposed loneliness. He tosses and turns in bed, unable to find sleep. The scene of Jimin’s betrayal keeps replaying in his head. Jimin’s tears. Jimin’s confession.

Jimin had stormed into his world, bringing warmth and light to his life, his blinding and merciless sunshine. But just as easily, he had taken those away.

All his employees, even Taehyung, agreed that Jimin had seemed genuine. That Jimin had looked at Yoongi with love in his eyes, the kind that could not be faked.

Could someone like Jimin really fall in love with him?

One week later, Yoongi visits his Sire’s grave.

Kim Namjoon, the madman who had turned him. Who protected him up till his death, and even after his death. Yoongi would never forgive him, but he no longer hates him.

Seokjin was his Sire’s ex-lover and closest friend. His Sire had always been guilty about taking Yoongi’s humanity away from him, so he asked Seokjin for a favour.

To keep Yoongi safe.

It’s just ironic that when he had feared Jimin to be a spy sent by Seokjin, that would have been a better outcome than this.

“I never saw you around though,” Yoongi had questioned Seokjin.

Yoongi had never seen Seokjin’s calm facade crack a smidge until he talked about Namjoon.

Seokjin had a faraway look in his eyes, almost glistening with tears, tone melancholic as he replied, “We broke up before you came into the picture and only kept in contact occasionally. I loved him, but he loved music more than he loved me. I couldn’t have that.”

If Seokjin and Namjoon, who were both vampires and so in love, left each other in the end, how can he and Jimin work out?

When Yoongi places the flowers on the grave and turns to leave, he sees the person who’s been invading his thoughts and dreams every second of the day for the past week.

Park Jimin.

Yoongi’s jaw clenches as he allows Jimin to approach. It’s crazy, how the mere sight of Jimin makes that throbbing ache in his heart subside and replaced by something much more intense.

Jimin starts off with a dispassionate tone. “I grew up with the Association. My dad was a hunter too. He was my hero. All my life, I thought what we were doing was right. That we were saving the world. I never saw vampires as anything more. I’ve killed many vampires on my missions.”

A lump forms in Yoongi’s throat. His voice is barely a whisper. “What changed?”

“I met you.” Jimin stares at him so intently, trying to convey his emotions to him. “Before you, I’ve never really talked to a vampire before. Remember when I asked you about your life before you were turned?”

Of course Yoongi remembers. Jimin had stared at him with a wide-eyed wonder as Yoongi recounted his life as a pianist. His gaze had been filled not with pity, but with awe, and he had clutched Yoongi’s hands and said, “No wonder you said I wasn’t good at piano.”

Jimin smiles at him, partly sad and partly hopeful. “I know you’re not a monster, Yoongi. I love you, I really do. Can you give me a chance? Give us a chance?

Yoongi closes his eyes and take a deep breath. Ever since he was turned into a vampire, he thought of himself as a soulless monster. For six hundred years, he struggled with the idea of accepting who he is now. The way Jimin said he loved him — that he wasn’t a monster, that he should love himself more — it winded him. After a long moment, he opens them and meets Jimin’s gaze, equally intensely. “Sunshine. I want to. I’m just...disappointed that you didn’t tell me. That you didn’t trust me enough...That I had to find out that way.”

Jimin lowers his gaze to his hands, interlacing his fingers together. “I didn’t have time...That’s an excuse. I’m sorry. The truth is, I was a coward. I was scared.” He looks up. “Still am. I didn’t know if you could forgive me. I don’t know if I can forgive myself.”

Yoongi shakes his head tiredly. “You’re a hunter. How can we be together?”

Jimin’s eyes shine with fierce determination. “It can change. It will change. I’ll make sure of it. You’ve said before that you disagree with some things vampires do too. Like the blood auction, blood slaves, and the turning of humans without consent. We can work together, the Vampire Council and the Hunters’ Association. Hunters will only interfere when vampires go rogue and don’t follow established rules. We’ll serve justice on them.”

“A revolution. That won’t be easy.”

“Change is never easy, Yoongi,” Jimin says softly. He steps closer and cups Yoongi’s face, fingers gently brushing against his jaw. “But we can do it together.”

It’s so idealistic. Yoongi is sure it’ll never work.

And yet, the way Jimin talks about it, with such strong resolve, shining brighter than the sun itself — Yoongi wants to believe in him. That they can build this new world. Together. And even if it never happens, he doesn’t want to let Jimin go.

Yoongi pulls Jimin into a tight embrace. He hears the mild hitch in Jimin’s breath and feels light shudder that runs through Jimin when he pulls Jimin close. “I love you too, Jimin. I’ll support you. We will do this together.”

Jimin nods into his chest and breathes his lover in. “Thank you. I love you so, so much, Yoongi.”

The fact that they fit together perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle has warmth blooming in Yoongi’s chest. For centuries, Yoongi had walked this world alone missing a part of himself, and then Jimin had come into his life, his sunshine, his missing puzzle piece.

Whatever challenges that may oppose their love, a love between a vampire and a hunter, they will face them — and overcome them all.

Now, Yoongi feels truly complete.