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“Am I interrupting something?”
Sunghoon jerked his head away from the neck of the human he was sucking on. He hissed at the intrusion.
Soft laughter filled the alley way and he dropped the human to the ground. That laugh was enough to jerk him out of his need. And he’d had enough.
Heeseung walked toward him, heels of his boots clicking on the street of the alley. It was only for effect; Sunghoon knew the man could move as quick and silently as wind if he wanted.
“He's dead?”
“Not anymore,” Sunghoon said. “You going to kill me today?”
“I would have had to if you killed him and I saw you doing it.”
Sunghoon smiled. He licked his fangs, smiling when Heeseung shivered.
It was a common thing when Heeseung caught up to him. Heeseung always made his presence known before Sunghoon could satisfyingly kill a human. A few more minutes and Heeseung would have been required by law to stake Sunghoon. But the human’s gasps echoed in the alley, showing his life.
If Heeseung was late, and Sunghoon had already killed his dinner, Heeseung waited until the next night. The only reason Sunghoon wasn’t dead was because only Heeseung was chasing him. Most of the time. If it wasn’t Heeseung hunting him, then another body joined the first, or Sunghoon flew off before he could be identified.
“You do know you’re about to be put on the VMD list, right?” Heeseung said as he moved closer.
Sunghoon shrugged. “Vampires Must Die. Humans are so original.”
Heeseung smirked. “You want a cigarette?”
“Yeah, no thanks.”
“One would think that after a few hundred years, you’d cave under the pressure.” Heeseung lit a smoke, the flare of the lighter throwing an orange glow over his soft face.
“It’s the principle of the thing. When are you going to cave under the pressure and let me turn you?” Sunghoon asked.
“It’s the principle of the thing,” Heeseung replied, letting out a lungful of smoke. He lived the life of a typical hunter. His family had been killed by vampires when he was young enough to build a hatred of them all, instead of the gang who was responsible for it.
Well, a hatred for most.
“Why would I want to be a blood-sucking danger to society?”
Sunghoon smiled. The offer was there, between them. Heeseung usually took it for a night. There was time between them. Short for Sunghoon, and long to Heeseung. Some nights Heeseung let impatience get the best of him. Others, the bad nights, Heeseung let Sunghoon do what he wanted.
“How’s life?” Sunghoon asked.
“The same. How’s being dead?”
“I feel alive tonight.”
“I feel dead."
Sunghoon took three steps to him, but to Heeseung it was as if he suddenly appeared next to him. Heeseung blew a mouthful of smoke into his face. Sunghoon smiled and put his mouth next to Heeseung’s, lips almost touching and inhaled. He held the toxic, harsh air in his lungs as he took the cigarette from Heeseung’s fingers and threw it to the ground. He let out the smoke.
Heeseung's eyes shut and he sagged against Sunghoon’s tall, strong body, arms snaking around his waist. Sunghoon held him tightly.
“It was… a family, Hoonie, a family. And… so much blood.”
Sunghoon ran his hands through Heeseung’s black hair. Corruption ruled their world, and Heeseung unknowingly had thrown himself in the middle of it. Yes, he hunted vampires. But he was an assassin for the highest bidder. He ended up killing innocents, people who had done nothing wrong but agree or disagree with others. Those were the bad nights.
Heeseung’s breath hitched. Sunghoon wrapped one arm around his shoulders, the other around his waist. He whispered, “Hang on,” and as soon as Heeseung’s arms tightened around his waist, under his coat, Sunghoon leapt into the air and flew. He had no home, but there were plenty of places where he slept. They weren’t the best living conditions, but Sunghoon only needed a place to stay out of the sun.
His sharp eyes picked out the silhouettes of two other hunters, waiting for him to land, but he was moving to fast for them to even realize he was close. One of his havens was unwatched, he circled, double checking, and then skimmed the roof before landing. Heeseung gasped as he was jostled, body unused to the strain.
“You okay?” Sunghoon whispered lowly in Heeseung's ears.
Heeseung nodded, but didn’t move to get out of Sunghoon’s hold. Sunghoon carried him, ducking under the door. He kicked it shut and took Heeseung right to the bed. He sat him down, and then moved through the dark. In a drawer he found a pack of matches. He lit a series of candles. Electric light gave away his position. Low candle light dispersed before it went too far.
In the light, Sunghoon got a good look at Heeseung. The alley had been dark. His black clothes were splattered with blood, young, old; Sunghoon picked up four different scents. There were handprints of blood in his legs.
Heeseung didn’t move as Sunghoon removed his jacket. His dark eyes stared at nothing. His hands shook.
Sunghoon pecked Heeseung on the lips.
Heeseung blinked slowly and then looked up at him. “Which death is better?” he asked, voice rough.
“Death rules both of our lives,” Sunghoon replied and unbuttoned Heeseung’s shirt. “It’d be more endurable together.”
Heeseung moved his eyes to meet Sunghoon’s. “Why endure it at all?”
“There is nothing in your life worth living for. Is there something worth dying for?”
“I always thought so.”
And Sunghoon knew they were talking about two different things.
The metal of Heeseung’s belt clinked as Sunghoon removed it. He unbuttoned the jeans, each button revealing skin. The backs of Sunghoon’s cold fingers brushed against his warm skin.
Sunghoon would miss that.
He stopped with the clothes and pulled off Heeseung’s boots. The metal buckles clinked on the concrete floor.
“Hoonie?”
“Huh?”
“Love me?”
Sunghoon smiled. “For how long?”
“Forever.”
Heeseung let himself be pulled to his feet. Sunghoon pushed the pants off his hips, and Heeseung stepped out of them. With arms around his waist, he lifted and kissed Heeseung. He carried him to the small bathroom and started the water in the cube shower. The water always felt warm to Sunghoon, but Heeseung shivered at the first trickle.
Sunghoon undressed quickly. Heeseung barely acknowledged him as he washed the blood from Heeseung’s tan skin.
Sunghoon wished he could wash the haunted look from his eyes. Sunghoon owned no towels. He stepped out of the shower, spun in a fast tight circle to dry off. He grabbed a clean shirt from the drawer and used it to dry Heeseung off the best as he could.
He carried the shivering human to the bed and wrapped all the blankets around him, careful to keep his skin away. On good days, he didn’t bother.
On bad days, Sunghoon let Heeseung rest and fight his demons and try to sleep.
Sunghoon was awake instantly. There was no light in the room, but he knew it was day out. He could feel it on his skin.
Heeseung shifted next to him. Asleep.
Sunghoon wondered what it was that woke him.
A footstep.
Human.
Sunghoon sent out his senses. Metal, but he had no time to differentiate between the metal of a gun and the metal of the clothes. Belt, shoes, buttons. Damn it.
He touched Heeseung’s forehead gently. “Forgive me,” he whispered and slammed his fangs into Heeseung’s neck just as the door burst inward. A bang, a sting of silver in his shoulder. Sunghoon entranced Heeseung’s mind quickly, and then ripped his mouth away and hissed at the two intruders.
Really? Only two of them?
Sunghoon mentally rolled his eyes as he rolled over blocking Heeseung from the next round of bullets, taking three in his back. Fuck. He pushed up and back, forcing his body faster than the others could comprehend, on his way past, he shut the door, throwing the room into darkness again. He slammed into one, pushing him back against the concrete wall. Sunghoon heard his back shatter. In the next moment, he spun, moved, reached and ripped the other’s throat out.
He stood in the middle of the room for a moment and then his head swam.
He staggered to the bed and touched Heeseung. It took three tries for him to lift the spell. Heeseung blinked his eyes open and then was awake and sitting up the next second.
“Sunghoon-ah!”
“In my back.”
Heeseung’s eyes were wide, as Sunghoon fell over the bed. Heeseung scrambled out of bed and grabbed the knife from its sheath.
“Three.” He hissed.
Heeseung sat over his lower back. He took the point of the knife and dug it into one of the wounds. Sunghoon clutched the blanket in his hands and bit through his lip as the knife dug deeper.
“Hoon, they’re too deep.”
“E-everything else will h-heal, just g-get it,” he stammered.
The knife went deeper and then fingers, and the pain halved. Sunghoon was near passing out, barely discerning Heeseung as he digged the second and third bullets out. He forgot about the one in his shoulder until the sharp point of the knife dug into his muscle.
The silver ran though his body, ripping blood vessels, absorbing.
“Hoon, Hoon. Fuck. Here, here.''
Somehow he ended up on his back, and skin at his face.
“Bite me, you stubborn piece of shit.”
Sunghoon chuckled, or tried to. Last time Heeseung had said that to him they were in completely different circumstances.
Sunghoon bit him, blood life food sex, flowed down his throat. He drank until he could move his arms, wrap them around Heeseung, lower him to the bed. He pulled his fangs away carefully.
Heeseung’s tan skin was lighter. His breath shallow.
Sunghoon had taken too much. Not so much that Heeseung would die, but enough to weaken him.
“I… I’m supposed to kill you,” Heeseung gasped.
Sunghoon smiled and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a bloody print of lips. “I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to love you,” he whispered.
Heeseung smiled, satisfied.
“Sleep, you idiot. I’m okay now. Sleep.”
Heeseung's eyes fluttered shut. Sunghoon waited until Heeseung was completely asleep before moving to the dead bodies. He relieved them of their weapons, and found their identification. Hunters from the state government. Not just city boys. Professionals.
The urge to flee fluttered in his body.
A glance at Heeseung calmed it. He shoved both the bodies into the bathroom and shut the door. He wasn’t staying here a minute past sunset. He gathered a few things he had, mentally categorizing his weapons and clothes. He left a set of clothes out for Heeseung to wear. He doubted Heeseung would want to wear his old ones.
Despite his promise to himself, Sunghoon stayed. Heeseung hadn’t recovered from his feeding. Each minute ticked closer to his death. He could feel it. There were others coming.
He roused Heeseung. “I’m sorry. We have to get out of here.”
Heeseung nodded. He took a deep breath and climbed out of bed. With only a little help from Sunghoon, he dressed and reattached all his weapons.
Sunghoon felt them. In the building, a few on the roof.
He grabbed his bag and hooked it on Heeseung’s back. “I have to fly, and I have to fly fast,” he said, crouching down. Heeseung wrapped his arms around his shoulder, legs around his waist.
Sunghoon opened the door. They were too close. Heeseung saw them too, his arms tightened around Sunghoon’s neck and Sunghoon vaulted into the sky, shooting straight up. Heeseung gasped in pain.
“Can’t… Hoonie, breathe,” Heeseung whispered.
Sunghoon leveled off, too high, Heeseung was probably freezing. He shot over the city. Away from the gaggle of hunters meant to surprise him. They would never learn. Only during feeding could they surprise him.
He eyed a building, high enough, and dove. He landed too hard and Heeseung fell from his back. He groaned on the roof, cradling his side. Blood blossomed over his shirt, and Sunghoon panicked, crouching, ripping the shirt open.
The bullet had missed Sunghoon.
Heeseung needed to get to a hospital.
“Hang on, baby,” Sunghoon whispered. He gathered Heeseung again in his arms and flew them gently, urgently to an emergency room. Sunghoon didn’t care what hospital. He went to carry Heeseung in, but a violent sting wrought through his heart and head. Vampire wards. He pushed through anyway. The door slid open and he landed on his knees, Heeseung cradled in his arms. The nurses were shocked and making sure they saw his fangs, Sunghoon growled, “Heal him,” and then left Heeseung on the floor.
The metal buzzing in his head was too much. He crawled out the door and took off down the street until he could think properly. He stopped, turned and waited, watched as the nurses lifted Heeseung to a gurney and wheeled him behind the emergency room doors.
A MONTH LATER.
Sunghoon stayed inside at night. Only hunting when he had too. And then, only hunting the hunters. He stopped killing humans. He killed hunters.
He haunted the rooftops, and attacked from the sky instead of the ground. He watched and waited.
When he saw Heeseung again, he knew the other was being used as bait. He moved weakly, like he wasn’t fully recovered from the wound in his side. The grace of a predator was missing. Sunghoon swooped down from the sky. He felt the others trailing Heeseung. Watching him. Tracking him.
With a burst of speed, he shot forward, and then dove, he grabbed Heeseung from behind, twisting, weaving through alleys until Heeseung was secure on his back.
“Hey, Hoonie,” he whispered.
Sunghoon squeezed his arm. “Are you bugged?”
“Yep.”
“Where?”
“My earrings.”
Sunghoon rose higher, to a height where he could keep in the air and remove Heeseung's earrings. Sunghoon took his own coat off and wrapped it around his body, holding him tightly.
“That was neat,” Heeseung said through chattering teeth. “Fast though."
Sunghoon chuckled. His hideout was little more than a hut on the roof of a school.
“Wow. Classy,” Heeseung said when Sunghoon set him on his feet.
Sunghoon kissed him, hard, holding his body against his. Heeseung whimpered into the kiss and his hands tangled in Sunghoon's hair.
Sunghoon pulled away, and Heeseung tried chasing his lips which made him chuckle.
Sunghoon kissed his neck, slow, and languid.
“Bite me,” Heeseung whispered. “Bite me. Please.”
Sunghoon's eyes darkened when he heard the boy.
Heeseung whined and Sunghoon immediately bit down. His blood suddenly sweeter. He took a few more swallows and then pulled away.
Heeseung relaxed, and Sunghoon let him free his hands to wrap around Sunghoon’s body. Still cold, but warm with those arms around him. He pulled away reluctantly. Heeseung stared up at him, shaking.
Sunghoon placed a hand on his back. “What happened?”
“They’re all looking for you. National hunters are here. All of them. You’re the Hunters Association’s most wanted vampire.”
“And you as bait?”
“They approached me in the hospital, said they knew I’d been with you when you killed the state hunters. They had me tracked that night, too. No one could find you, only find where you’d been. I… I agreed because I knew you’d get me.”
“So did they. What if they had been closer?”
“You wouldn’t have taken the risk and waited for another day.” Heeseung turned and gripped his arms. “You have to go,” Heeseung said, desperate, pleading.
“I can’t go. I have something worth staying for.”
“They’ll kill you if you stay. You can’t keep hiding.”
“Then give me a reason to go.”
“What?”
“Either you die, or you come with me.”
“Those are the same thing,” Heeseung whispered.
“They’re the only things that will make me leave.”
Heeseung didn’t reply.
“Why are you so afraid?” Sunghoon whispered. He moved behind Heeseung's body, hands on his waist as he carresed him.
Heeseung leaned against him, laying his head on Sunghoon's shoulder. “Take me with you,” Heeseung whispered.
Sunghoon shook his head. “No halfway, this… this is halfway. We’re here, together, in two separate worlds. I cannot rejoin your world.”
“I don’t want to kill anymore. I don’t want to die. If I die, I feel like I’ve given up. Like I’ve done all this for nothing.”
“What have you done it for?”
Heeseung chokes on his answer and instead turns in Sunghoon's arms and kisses him. Sunghoon didn’t refuse the kiss, but despite Heeseung's efforts to deepen it, Sunghoon didn’t. Heeseung whimpered.
“No,” Sunghoon whispered. “We are not going to make out again, and forget about our problems.”
Heeseung hit his shoulder with a shout.
“Don’t you see, love? Don’t you understand? It all goes away when we’re together. Always. Always. Always together. I want to be always together. It goes away, we can go away.”
Heeseung gasped. When he pushed away, Sunghoon let him go.
“They’ll kill you, too,” Sunghoon said. “When you return, unscathed. They’ll kill you for being a traitor. The only reason you’re not dead already is because they used you.”
“Where will we go?” Heeseung whispered.
"Somewhere far."
“Then let’s go.”
“I can’t carry you forever, Heeseung,” Sunghoon said.
“If you loved me—”
“I can carry you until you die,” Sunghoon said. “I want to carry you forever. Not for just a few more years.”
Heeseung shivered. “Will it hurt?”
“No.”
“Will I be… different?”
“You’ll be a vampire.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“No. You won’t be different.”
Heeseung turned around. “So you were a sarcastic motherfucker when you were alive, too?”
“Yeah.”
Heeseung scoffed. He kissed Sunghoon's cheeks before kissing his lips. “Do it.” He whispered against the plump lips.
“You have to—”
“What else do I have, Hoonie? Who else do I have? And I don’t want anything else. I want you, and to lie here and not have to worry about you dying.”
Sunghoon kissed Heeseung. Kissed warm lips and touched warm skin.
“I love you, Sunghoon.”
Sunghoon jerked his gaze to Heeseung's.
“I’m so afraid of losing you. So afraid of hearing of your death. I’m so afraid that all I’ll have to remember you by is a scar on my side.”
Sunghoon traced his fingers over Heeseung's face. Heeseung kissed a finger.
“Do you love me?” Heeseung whispered.
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
Sunghoon dug his fangs into Heeseung's neck before Heeseung could take it back. He was being given everything he wanted. Everything he loved flowed down his throat, through his body, his mind.
“I love you,” Heeseung gasped, just before his eyes rolled back and his body went limp. His chest rose and fell in quick breaths.
Sunghoon swallowed more, waiting for that moment between death and life. Death … and death. It shouted at him every time he drained a human, and this time he listened to it. He removed his fangs, slit open his wrist and covered Heeseung’s lips with blood, forcing it in his mouth until Heeseung choked and swallowed and latched on to his wrist and drank and drank and drank.
Heeseung's eyes flew open, dark, black hungry.
Sunghoon fought back a victorious cry of possession.
Heeseung was his.