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Part 1
Yeon Sera always walked home alone. Her work ended past sunset and her house was close by so she never thought it was a big deal. Plus, despite her modest apartment and not-so-great job at a candy shop, Sera was not struggling financially. She didn't need the job.
For the past year, Sera had been attending medical school in hopes of following he fathers footsteps as a doctor and helping him with his business. Because of this ambition, her father was more than happy to pay for her living expenses for the duration of her college life. He had always been proud of being able to help and save people, and Sera learned from him as she grew up. She wanted to save people too. And for that, she needed both education and resolve.
So the job was her way of taking control in learning responsibility. She had to live independently eventually, so she even got a close job so she wouldn't have to ask her father for a car. She was fine with walking. If anything, it was a little bit of cardio after working in a candy shop for a few hours.
And that's exactly what she is doing now. Walking home from work so she can wind down and get some homework done before bed.
Strangely though, Yeon Sera has had this odd feeling of...a prickling on her neck, or her back. As if she's being watched. She turns several times, back and forth, to see if she is being followed by someone, and each time she finds no one. But the tingling is only getting stronger.
Sera had always trusted her own and other people's instincts when they were this strong, and now she has no doubt that this is some sort of sixth sense telling her something is off. Unfortunately, nothing is happening so she can only keep walking home, albeit a little faster.
She adjusts her keys and puts the ends between her fingers tightly and reminds herself that she has a 3 inch switchblade clipped to her waist, concealed under her shirt. It was a defense weapon her father had insisted she have since she didn't want to use pepper spray. Her excuse was that it was a predictable weapon for a woman who may be mugged on the street, but really she just felt like it made her look like a weakling who couldn't fight (she took self-defense classes). And she also worried she might accidentally spray herself.
So she holds her keys firmly in her left hand and keeps her dominant hand open to grab her knife in a moment's notice.
Finally, as she keeps walking and the click-clack of her shoes slows down to a more relaxed pace, Sera does not feel her neck tingling. Nor does she feel like she's being watched. The street goes silent and not at all dangerous so Sera relaxes.
Wrong choice.
Before she can even think of swinging her arm, Sera is pulled back by the scruff of her neck so hard her ankle twists and she yelps. The attacker pulls her into an alley she hadn't noticed before, and Sera gasps as she is thrown against the wall. However, the throw felt clumsy and hesitant. Upon noticing this, Sera thinks maybe they aren't a forceful mugger and aren't violent. Maybe they won't hurt her if she doesn't fight. At this point, they'd notice her reaching for her knife, and her house keys are out of reach, having fallen to the ground with her. So she stays very still and lets herself drop after the impact with the wall. Her arms go limp and although her leg is bent oddly, she does not move it.
She even goes as far as closing her eyes. She hopes that maybe....maybe he'll think he knocked her unconscious and he'll leave?
It's silent for a moment.
"Uh..." The mugger mutters, confused. Sera holds her breath, too afraid to exhale for fear of seeming conscious. This was probably the last thing anyone would do in a mugging, but she'd already been thrown on the ground and closed her eyes tight, so it was too late to go back.
"Crap...hello?" The voice says again and this time it's a bit closer. Sera resists the urge to shudder and shove the man away and instead steels her resolve to seem unconscious, though now her lungs were beginning to hurt from the shallow breaths she was taking in. Unfortunately, she had not the luck of being abandoned just yet.
"Shoot, is she dead?" The man hisses. Sera's heart jumps with panic. How could he think she's dead?! She's alive! What if he decides to bury her, thinking she really did die?!
There is quiet shuffling and Sera feels a warmth near her shoulder. Perhaps breath. Next thing she knows, the scent of lavender and perhaps chamomile are assaulting her nose. The smell is too strong to be from anything but the close proximity of her attacker and Sera nearly coughs from its strength. This, however, leads to her completely not breathing, which seems to fool the man to finality, as he had indeed leaned down over her to tell if she were breathing as a sign of life.
"Oh my god." He whispers. "I've killed her!" There is a clear tremor in his voice and for a moment, Sera starts to feel bad for him. Poor idiot, thinking she's dead without even checking for a pulse! There are many reasons a person can stop breathing, you know! But she reminds herself that this man had intended to do nefarious things when he had pulled her back so roughly. It's only fair to give him the psychological scar of murder. Thankfully though, it does not appear that he plans on burying her.
Instead, Sera feels him come a little closer and a skin crawling sensation crawls up her neck. A very light, shaking touch pushes her hair out of the way and then the man places two fingers firmly on her neck, just under her jaw to feel for a pulse.
In the wrong damn spot.
Now she's too distracted from feeling creepy crawlies under her skin by the abhorrent placement of the man's fingers in an attempt to find her pulse. Kudos to him for at least trying, and not assuming she's dead just because she's not breathing, but.....seriously?
All the goosebumps on Sera's arms fade away as she resists the urge to groan or even open her eyes and show this man how it's done. Fortunately, after a few moments, he stands back up and his silence indicates that he is contemplating something. Sera concentrates on resuming her breathing at a subtle rate. As she does, his feet shuffle and he breathes unevenly before he concludes to himself;
"I gotta tell Hyung. He'll know what to do." And then he goes back and forth until Sera hears him say "ha!" And then a loud dragging sound comes closer and closer to Sera. During this moment, she takes the time to actually take in a deeper breath to hold more efficiently. No good asphyxiation will do her here, right?
She peeks very carefully through one eye and finds that the silhouette of the man is backing towards her, pulling a large collection of plastic bags along, likely from a dumpster she didn't see. Quickly she shuts her eyes and with great aversion, feels the weight of several of these bags being laid over her body.
She waits and stays as still as possible until all the bags are set on top of her and then until she hears his rapid steps going away from her as if he is running, getting quieter and quieter. Then it is silent.
Sera listens very attentively for any other sounds or evidence of his presence or return, then once she feels that the wait was long enough, she gasps in a deep breath and shoves aside the bags to sit up. Looking around frantically, Sera gropes the ground in darkness until her hands fall upon the jingling link of keys.
"Thank god he didn't take them." She wheezes and stumbles to her feet to run out of the alley. One of her shoes had fallen off during the struggle, and they never were suitable for running so she was slightly worried the other would fall off, but the pain from her ankle which she probably sprained earlier just spurred Sera to curl her toes and run even harder down the street. Her heart hammered with the fear that the man would appear out of nowhere and find out she was not actually dead.
Thankfully – though her lungs were in pain and her heart was beating so hard it felt like it would break her ribs – Yeon Sera ascended the stairs of her apartment building and jammed her keys into the lock. She looked behind her, overseeing the empty street devoid of shadowy hooded figures, then she ran inside and shut the door.
That night, she covered all her windows, kept her knife on her hip and did not sleep a wink.
Part 2
It had been a long night for Taehyung. He'd gotten up that morning excited that it was his birthday, and better yet, his Transition birthday! The day he would finally change from a young inactive feeder to a real vampire! He would get to see all the hype his hyungs talked about! Super strength! Immortality! Even faster healing! And even the taste of fresh blood....though he was a pacifist so he decided to try his best on that front. As best as he could without people like himself to guide him. A vampire.
Unfortunately, his whole life, Taehyung had never had anyone to teach him the ropes. No one to tell him the ins and outs of being a young vampire. His parents who were also vampires had both died when he was young, so he ended up on the street, then was taken in by a friend he'd made, Jungkook. Turns out, Jungkook lived in the most peculiar little group home Taehyung had ever seen in his short years on the earth.
The house was big and clearly meant to be some sort of fraternity house, but the only 'people' that lived there were a group of men who were friends despite the major differences they had. The differences? Every single one of them was a different species.
Taehyung, of course, was a yet-to-be-matured Vampire. Jungkook, bless his heart, was a Fomorian, which is usually a very ugly and large species, but he was a descendent of Elatha, which Taehyung learned was a beautiful Fomorian. So he got all the perks, like superstrength, and none of the fall-back like disproportionate size and unfortunate-on-the-eyes. He was also the youngest in the house so he was spoiled a lot.
If this was going by age, then rightfully, Jimin was just above Taehyung.
Jimin was one of the more peaceful people in the house. Less chaotic...or so Taehyung thought. The rascal was a Faerie. Although originally small in size, he could make himself large with some sort of witch magic, and he still liked to hide keys and put pranks in everyone's shoes. He was just a quiet menace. Jerk.
Next was Namjoon. Taehyung was really afraid of him when they first met, but he soon found out that he was the kindest and greatest living thing on the planet. He was really smart so he was the one who usually gave Taehyung advice on his vampire troubles, but there was just one... problem . This will be relevant again, but Namjoon was something called a Naphilim. He was half angel, half human. His mother was human. This meant he had some...divine properties that Taehyung wished he didn't have to hear about.
Probably Taehyung's favorite person after Jungkook, Hoseok was a bright and lively person. Upon first sight, he made Tae think of a puppy and it turned out that his instincts were correct because Hoseok was just that. A werewolf. Taehyung had never met a werewolf before and had never wanted to since he had heard they were the natural enemy of vampires, but Hoseok was too much of a sunshine to hurt him. Even when he was irritable, nearing the full moon on which he would turn, he was still kind.
Now Suga. Real name, Yoongi, but he didn't use that name much as it was his human name. Suga was what some people call...a Zombie. But not really. The real term was Ghoul. He fed on dead people and honestly, Taehyung wasn't even sure if the person he looked like was really himself. Probably...his ego is too large to fit in any other skin than his own. Frankly, if Taehyung had been afraid of Namjoon at first, then he was terrified of Suga. The man walked like a ghost and spoke like the depths of the abyss. And yet Jimin says he's a sweetheart.
Last but not least, and the reason Namjoon's species was a mistake to learn about; Jin. He acted like everyone's mom, and probably the reason for that was that he was an Incubus. The sexual demon, intent on reproducing their offspring and, as Jungkook put it, seducing every female existence on the planet with his peerless guile and handsomeness. But he probably put it like that because Jin-Hyung was watching. Nonetheless, Jin and Namjoon were a couple, and after a very unlucky question on Taehyung's part, he learned why Jin left his promiscuous life to live with Namjoon. He regretted having ears and relatively more-than-human hearing that day. Because why else would an incubus initially date a divine being?
So in a house of 7 different species, it was easy to see why Taehyung had such a chaotic day, and moreso, had gone out for his transition by himself. He didn't want a Fomorian, werewolf, Fae, nephilim, ghoul or incubus on his back while he was trying to get a human and feed for the first time without hurting them.
God was that a mistake. He should've brought Namjoon with him at least. He had healing powers! Instead, Taehyung went and accidently killed a beautiful woman by tossing her into the wall too clumsily! It wasn't like he could've predicted that she would stumble and make his grasp slip!
And now he had a dead human on his hands. He didn't know how to hide a body! He even left her under a bunch of dirty bags before he left. Such a pretty woman and she died on the street because he was a stupid kid? He'd never bitten a human before so he was afraid to do it anyway, but he just couldn't bring himself to bite a dead person just for fresh blood. Hell, if he didnt feed today , he would get weaker and weaker until he dried up, but he just...couldn't do it. He had killed the girl.
He almost cried on the spot, right next to her body, and he was so glad his hearing wasn’t proficient enough yet to actually hear her heart beating to a stop. That would've really made him bawl. The only thing that made him get up and run off for redemption was his Hobi-hyung. He'd told him before that most of the guys had hurt or killed someone for different reasons. That meant he had too. So he could help him right? They could surely help him. They had to.
So Taehyung ran all the way back home and burst through the doors of the house like nobody's business. He found that all of them had retired to their rooms, thinking he wouldn't be back till morning. Only Suga-hyung was sitting in the living room, playing a game on his phone while reclining on the couch.
"Hyung!" Taehyung whisper-hissed, "Where is Hobi-Hyung?"
"Relax, leech. He's down in the basement. What are you doing back?" Suga looked up from his phone with a sneer.
"I messed up. I'm not staying long." Taehyung said quickly and practically flew across the room to the basement stairs, descending without even turning on the light.
"Hyung! Hobi-hyung!" He screeched, looking around frantically for his hyung. A firm pat of a hand landed on Taehyung’s shoulder and he spun around with big doe eyes towards Hoseok.
"What is it, Tae?" Hobi rubbed at his eyes tiredly and the jingle of
chains drew Taehyung’s attention downward. On Hoseok’s wrists and ankles were very thick chains and he wasn't wearing any clothes except boxers.
"Sorry to disturb you right after the full moon, but....I need help hyung." Tae whined. "I–..... I killed a person!"
Before Hoseok can respond in any way, Taehyung bursts into tears and bawls on his shoulder. He hadn't had the chance to cry the entire run there, but once he said it out loud to his hyung, he couldn't hold it in.
"I haven't even fed yet! And they died because I was too clumsy and hit their head on the wall! I'm such an idiot, so I need your help hyung!" He shook with despair and grabbed Hoseoks’ shoulders insistently.
"Oh TaeTae, it’s ok, it's alright!" Hoseok soothed and hugged the boy, "This kind of thing happens sometimes, it's alright. Cheer up, Tae, you're ok... Where is the body?"
*
And so that's what led them to where they were now. Back in the alley. The very same – exactly the same – alley that Taehyung's failure was supposed to be evident. There should've been a cold dead body of a pretty young woman laying on the ground below the trash bags, but instead, the bags were drifting around from the wind and there was no body in sight. It was the right alley, and yet the body was gone?
"TaeTae...." Hoseok whispered wearily, "you didn't happen to...bleed into her mouth, did you? And then she died?"
"Wha– No!" Taehyung gasped, "Definitely not! I just grabbed her and she fell, and didn't get up again. I checked her breathing and her pulse and everything. She wasn't breathing, and I didn't feel anything when I checked her pulse."
Hobi nodded contemplatively and stayed silent for a moment. Then he turned to Taehyung with narrowed eyes. "Where did you put your fingers?"
"On her neck."
"Where on her neck?"
"What do you mean?! Just on her neck, under her head, above her shoulders!"
"I mean did you put it here–" he jabbed two fingers onto Taehyung’s upper neck, "–or somewhere else?!"
"Uhh...I...don't know? Why does it matter? The pulse is in the neck!"
"No, you fool! The pulse is in this specific spot!" He grabbed Taehyung's hand and pressed two of his fingers onto his neck where Taehyung felt a very powerful da-dump da-dump under his fingertips. It was very clear and hard to miss.
"Seeing how she’s gone, there are two options. She was unconscious, couldn't breathe, and you felt the pulse wrong. Or she was faking, holding her breath, and you still felt the pulse wrong." Hoseok concluded, but added on one more option, " Or she's a ghoul like Suga, but you can usually smell that on them."
"No...she smelled nice. Like honeysuckle. Not like Suga-hyung."
"Right....honeysuckles." Hoseok looked Tae over oddly, "Anyway, is there anything I can use to find her? Like clothing or hair? Whether she was taken from here or left herself, her scent should still be here."
"...I didn't stop to take a sample of her hair, hyung." Tae said bluntly. "But ...she left her shoe apparently." He pointed to a single tan block heel lying on the ground just at the opening of the alley.
"How Grimm." Hoseok said with a chuckle. When Tae didn't laugh, he looked over at him expectantly.
"What?" Tae asked, perplexed.
"Grimm?" He insisted. "It was a joke. I made a joke. Like the Brothers Grimm and Cinderella? She lost her shoe??"
"Oh, right." Tae hummed and cracked a smile. But Hoseok just sighed.
"It's grim that I have to use the scent of a person's shoe to track them." He shook his head and whined, "No one gets my jokes."
"Sorry, Hyung. Plus, that seems more like a joke Jin-Hyung would make." Taehyung attempted empathy, but only received a sharp look from his hyung who walked over to the shoe and lifted it to smell. Fortunately, it was a woman, and women usually had better smelling feet than guys, so Hoseok got it over with easier than he thought and waved over Taehyung.
"Now," he warned, "this isn't guaranteed to work, but I can probably trail her scent up till where she lives, or where a possible body thief lives, but that's only if it's scarcely populated and the scents of other things don't interfere too much." Taehyung nodded resolutely at his words, ready for action.
"But I'm top dog, so my sense of smell is superb." Hoseok grinned. Of course he was being a bit dramatic, but his sense of smell was more well trained than other werewolves he knew.
"Alright, let's go." He said, and the two men set off in the trail of a thought-to-be-dead supposed human.