Chapter Text
Taehyung didn’t consider his life to be perfect. He didn’t really believe it was possible for anyone’s to be perfect. However, he wouldn’t trade his for any other in the world. His close-knit coven of six and their cozy nest was all that he could ever ask for.
The nest was a modest cottage tucked away in the woods. Made of rustic wood with deep green ivy crawling all along the surface, the home had the perfect camouflage with the trees surrounding it.
If some passerby were to notice its presence in the wilderness, the scent of six vampires was a clear deterrent and warning. It is a built-in natural instinct for any creature to stay away from the scent of a foreign coven’s nest. The nest is the heart of a coven. Intruding in a nest is asking for a fight as the members defend it to the death. To Taehyung though, the Bangtan nest did not smell of danger, it smelled of home.
Taehyung did not always have a home. Decades ago, he used to be a human. At that time, he was a child without a family and lived in orphanage in a small human village. As an institution filled with young and defenseless humans, the orphanage became the target of a ravenous group of vampires.
They attacked in the dead of night, the women working the orphanage fleeing in terror to get help from the other villagers. The vampires allowed them to run as it gave them free access to the dozens of defenseless children whom they considered to be small living blood bags.
A mob with torches had formed and set the orphanage ablaze with the intent of killing the vampires, sure that the children had all been drained dry of blood by then. While the flames burned bright in the night, the Bangtan coven arrived. Unlike the group of vampires dying in the building, Bangtan were welcomed in the village. They kept peace with their neighbors and acted as mediators between humans and vampires.
By some miracle, the coven leader sensed two human children still clinging to life in the orphanage. The two were brought out of the building and immediately turned before death could overtake them. One of those children was Taehyung, and the other was a boy named Jimin. That was the moment Taehyung found a family in the Bangtan coven.
Decades have passed since his turning, his appearance changing from that of a child to that of a man in his twenties, even as he grew much older than that.
—-
“Jimin-ah! Taehyungie! Come on babies, it’s feeding time!” Seokjin’s voice singsonged as he strolled over to the two younger vampires lounging on the sofa in the coven’s nest.
Jimin’s plump lips stuck out in a pout. “Ugh, hyung, we aren’t babies anymore. If we were still human, we would be old men.” he said with feigned exasperation.
A smile immediately spread across Taehyung’s lips as he threw his arm around the smaller vampire’s shoulder, nuzzling their cheeks together.
“Aw, you know you love it, Jiminie.” Taehyung countered, knowing his coven mate loved the affection they all shared and the soft spot that they held as the youngest members.
“Yeah Jimin-ah, you should lighten up and be more like Taehyungie, he’s the good dongsaeng.” Seokjin teased, pinching the younger vampire’s cheek that was not already smushed against Taehyung.
Once Jimin looked thoroughly smothered, the coven leader pulled back and rested his hands on his hips, looking at his two coven mates expectantly.
“So who’s gonna eat first?” He asked, tilting his head in question.
Jimin’s infamous and mischievous grin grew as he seized the opportunity for revenge.
“But you aren’t my sire, Hobi hyung’s blood tastes much better!” he scoffed, as though Seokjin’s blood were second rate.
“Yeah, I want my sire! Where’s Joonie hyung?” Taehyung added, excited to join in on ganging up against the coven leader.
The elder vampire clutched his hand over his heart in mock offense.
“Yah, you brats! You know very well that Hobi and Joonie are busy today, so I am what you get! I am your mathyung and the leader of this coven! Show some respect! I’m not your sire, but I’m your sire’s sire, so I’m your super sire! You should be honored to feed from me! How could you betray me in this way?” Seokjin ranted as he shook his head from side to side dramatically. His speaking became faster and faster with each sentence, his neck and ears burning red with heat while his face remained its normal pale color.
When his rant was finished, there was a moment of complete silence before the two younger vampires burst into laughter at the spectacle, doubling over.
“Super sire? Is that the official name for it?” Taehyung gasped between his giggles.
“Of course, don’t question your hyung.” The older smiled fondly as he sat on the couch next to Taehyung, who immediately nudged closer to him and nestled his face into the crook of his neck.
When the younger turned completely to face him, Seokjin tilted his head away, baring his neck to allow better access. Taehyung took a moment to nose the skin of the coven leader’s neck to allow the scent to comfort him before sinking his fangs into the flesh there.
He was met with the familiar taste of vampire blood, the soothing liquid quenching his thirst and satisfying his hunger. Ever since he was turned, he never had to worry of thirst or hunger. His eyelids drooped as he relaxed in the familiar feeling of the feed.
Taehyung wasn’t phased when he felt a gentle nip of teeth against his neck. Jimin had grown eager for his turn after smelling the sweet blood. He reached a hand out to rub Jimin’s leg beside him to offer comfort as he waited.
Jimin relaxed under the touch, and he decided to stare intently at Seokjin’s neck with hunger in his eyes instead of impatiently nipping at Taehyung.
When Taehyung was just about done feeding, he felt Seokjin suddenly tense underneath him. The fledgling flinched, spooked that the elder was anything but relaxed as he fed. Worried for his hyung, he removed his fangs and lapped at the bite mark with his tongue, the venom immediately sealing the wound.
“Hyung?” he asked, looking up at the older vampire.
The coven leader didn’t meet his dongsaeng’s eyes. He stared straight ahead, but he was not really looking at what was in front of him. He was sensing something far off.
“Hyung, what’s wrong?” Jimin asked, worry lacing his tone.
“Yoongichi” the elder gasped softly, then finally turned to look at the other two vampires who continued to look back at him with worry and confusion. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but something feels wrong. I think Yoongi is in trouble.” he explained further.
“Didn’t Yoongi hyung and Hobi hyung go to the southern village? Are they both in trouble then?” Jimin asked, leaning over Taehyung’s lap to get closer.
“I don’t sense anything wrong with Hobi, he seems alright. But I’m going to head to the village and see what happened. I don’t like this feeling, and I need to make sure that Yoongi is alright. I’m not planning to be long, but either way Joon-ah should be back soon. So you two are going to stay put, understand?” Seokjin explained while masking the anxiety in his voice with reassurance so that his dongsaengs wouldn’t worry.
“Can’t we come with you?” Taehyung protested. He didn’t like being excluded from his hyung’s plan.
Seokjin rose from the couch, only to drop immediately into a squat in front of the two fledglings. He wrapped one arm around each of their shoulders and pulled them in close for a hug. His hands moved to each of their heads to gently guide them to rest on his shoulders as he stroked their hair. The scent and close proximity of their coven leader was calming.
“You will be safe here in the nest, so don’t worry. Alright?” He said soothingly.
Nestled against the elder’s neck, Jimin remembered that he didn’t get his turn to feed. He opened his mouth with his fangs ready to sink into the pale flesh beneath him. Seokjin pulled back before he got the chance, the elder meeting the two fledglings eyes as he waited for a response to his question.
“Alright, hyung.” Taehyung answered begrudgingly.
Jimin echoed his response with a pout, wanting blood. The coven leader didn’t realize Jimin’s dilemma, assuming the pout was for being left in the nest. In his worry, he had completely forgotten that the other vampire didn’t feed yet.
With a final soft kiss to the forehead of each fledgling, Seokjin rushed out the front door. As soon as he was outside, he transformed into a bat and flew out of sight.
When the two vampires were alone, Taehyung let out an exasperated sigh. “If the rouge vampires in the village were such a big problem, we should have all just gone together in the first place. We’ve just been at home, and Joonie hyung didn’t need to go to his fancy pants vampire meeting.” he complained with a huff.
“Yeah.” Jimin agreed simply, too disappointed to hold up a conversation.
He wasn’t starving by any means, but having seen Taehyung feed and smelling the delicious blood of the coven leader had set off his instincts. They were like bells in his head telling him that it was time for food. There were jars of human blood in the icebox that he could drink, but it sounded like a disappointing prospect compared to the fresh vampire blood he had smelled.
Taehyung took note of the other’s quiet reaction and decided that he needed to do something to cheer him up.
“I know, let’s play some music!” he said excitedly, jumping up from the couch and rushing to skim through the many bookshelves lining the living room. Jimin's eyes followed the other vampire as he bounced around the room, a pout still on his face.
Since Taehyung and Jimin were turned at such an early age and didn’t have the opportunity of an education as humans, their coven made it their mission to teach the two fledglings everything that they knew. From reading, writing, music and more, there were books on a variety of topics in the coven’s collection.
Having found the two books of sheet music that he was searching for, Taehyung pulled them off the shelf and handed one to Jimin as he walked by to sit at the piano near the window.
Without further prompt, Jimin opened the book and flipped the pages to a song that the two had been working on previously. He began to sing softly on the couch as Taehyung accompanied his angelic voice perfectly on the piano.
The beautiful music blanketed the cottage for a while until Jimin could no longer concentrate his mind on anything except feeding. He closed the book with more force than necessary and tossed it aside with a sigh.
“Ugh, I’m so hungry.” he complained.
Taehyung stopped playing the instrument, his hands hovering over the keys as realization hit him.
“Oh yeah, you didn’t get a turn with Jin hyung. He left in such a hurry.” he thought out loud. “There’s the jars in the icebox, that should work.” he added after a moment’s thought.
Jimin grimaced at the thought of canned human blood. “That’s the nasty stuff the hyungs drink, I don’t want that.” he replied with disgust in his voice.
Taehyung got up from the piano to sit back on the sofa next to the other vampire, running his hand over his back in sympathy.
“Well, how about you just drink from me instead?” he suggested as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. It would have been except for the fact that Taehyung and Jimin had never been fed from.
The smaller vampire jolted in surprise. “Tae, you know we aren’t allowed to do that.” he reasoned.
Although the two had been turned decades ago, they were still young for vampires. They were still technically fledglings even though they were older ones. Fledglings require more blood than an full grown vampire. Fledglings are also not able to give as much blood as an older vampire. For those reasons, the coven never allowed for the two youngest vampires to be fed from yet, instead only feeding from the hyungs or drinking from blood jars.
Since the two vampires were closest to each other, Taehyung really did not like seeing the other vampire hungry. His instincts urged him to give his blood to the other.
“It’s still gonna be a while before Joonie hyung comes back. And who knows when the others will be back. Come on Minnie, just a little bit won’t hurt. I’ll let you know if it’s too much.” he explained, trying to convince the other vampire.
Jimin raised one one eyebrow skeptically. “How would you know how much is too much when you’ve never fed anyone?” he countered.
Taehyung just shrugged, looking unbothered. “It’s just instinct, Minnie.” he replied nonchalantly.
Jimin looked uncovinced. "Instinct is helpful and all, but it's not just going to give you the answer to everything."
"Yeah, but feeding is a pretty basic thing. Besides, weren’t you just telling Jin hyung that we aren’t babies anymore? Now come on." Taehyung said, patting his lap for emphasis.
The smaller vampire caved with a dramatic sigh.
“Fine.” he said simply as the other vampire smiled in success.
Jimin got up to crawl into the other’s lap and wrap his arms around his neck. Taehyung giggled at the sudden lapful of vampire.
“Guess you really are hungry, huh Minnie?” he teased, which earned him a pout from the other.
“Don’t make fun of me.” was the reply as Jimin nuzzled his face into the other’s neck.
“Aw, I’m not making fun of you, Minnie. You’re just too cute is all.” Taehyung soothed. That earned him a smile as Jimin sunk his fangs into his neck.
Taehyung was shocked when the first thing that he felt was pain. In retrospect, it seemed obvious that being bitten would be painful, but out of the countless times that he had fed from his hyungs, he never once sensed any pain from them. He thought that perhaps it was that his hyungs were so used to the feeling of being fed from. Taehyung urged his muscles to relax, not wanting to spook Jimin and deter him from feeding.
The pain didn’t last long as the venom from Jimin’s fangs worked it’s way into his bloodstream. It made his blood feel warm, a warmth that settled deep in his bones throughout his entire body. It felt as though he were sitting in a hot spring, and he couldn’t help but relax. He brought a hand up to stroke through Jimin’s hair. Then he rested his head against the smaller vampire’s head as he drank.
Taehyung figured that he must have zoned out for a while because he didn’t notice when black spots had started creeping on the edges of his vision. He felt himself start to list sideways as he lost the energy to hold himself up.
Jimin became terrified when he felt the vampire under him start to slump. He pulled his fangs out and lapped at the wound quickly to seal it. He grabbed Taehyung’s cheeks in both hands and tried to meet his eyes, but the other vampire had already passed out.
“Tae? Tae?” He whined, voice worried.
Tears burned in Jimin’s eyes as he got off the other’s lap to cradle him in his arms instead. Rocking back and forth, he felt scared and alone. He had no idea what to do.