Chapter Text
for the freshmen at seoul national university, the biggest things to worry about are the workload and the all-nighters.
for a freshman who’s also a newborn vampire, like jake, the biggest things to worry about are the sunlight and the ever-present hunger.
he has heard of college being an experience, all capital letters, but no one’s ever told him what to do if he becomes a killing machine with little to no control, recently removed from all things familiar and home, having to live a whole new life among strangers on top of hiding what he really is.
his wardrobe is fairly consistent now-a-days, all full-sleeved hoodies and long-sleeved gloves and trousers and jeans, with an explanation of having sensitive skin on the tip of his tongue, if anyone happens to ask. he no longer needs to sleep and the result comes out as perfectly finished assignments and dark circles under his eyes which make people stare. his naturally brown hair has darkened to a pitch black, and his pupils bleed red under dim lighting like a pair of blood moons.
the strangest thing post-transformation so far, is probably how he finds himself hanging from the rafters of his rented basement, in bat form, when he gets a little too immersed in his undead research, and forgets to remind himself that he was a human before all this.
the hardest thing, however?
it’s the thirst.
all his senses are fine-tuned, now. he can hear things he never could before. like the heart of his landlord beating away, four floors up. like the blood of the lady who lives above him, pumping through her veins as she walks around, trying to lull her crying infant to sleep. like jang wonyoung’s thumb tearing on the edge of her notebook, the sharp grain of the factory-manufactured paper slicing her skin open, making venom well in his mouth, in the middle of a physics lecture.
he hates it.
he hates how he’s perpetually hungry all the time. he hates how he has to be careful of the way he walks and talks, lest he end up becoming whatever monster did this to him. he hates how he loves the tangy smell of blood and longs to taste iron and rust upon his tongue, to finally soothe the ache of his desert-dry throat.
most of all, he hates himself.
he hates how he never had, and will probably never have, the courage to let go when he should.
he’s ensconced behind a pillar, and tucked himself into a ball to try and preserve some warmth under his clothes. these days, he’s almost always chilly, be it sun or rain, and since wearing more than one layer would be beyond weird in the public eye, he’s been suffering from the shivers for over a week, every time he’s out and about.
it’s lunchtime now and he’s got thirty minutes before his next class, so, he’s trying to get as much of a shut-eye as he can, out of this. it’s a good spot that he’s found here, a place mostly free of students and teachers, where he can relax and get a break from his hind brain urging him to just pounce on those potential living and breathing blood bags, and bite and take-
“hey, are you thirsty?”
he almost jumps out of his skin.
scrambling to his feet, he looks up at the boy who just asked him what?
“sorry,” the kid says, wide-eyed and apologetic. “i didn’t mean to startle you. it’s just that you sounded thirsty, and i thought i could help.”
jake simply raises an eyebrow, too stunned to speak.
“oh, right!” the kid says. he grins brightly, brushing his dark bangs out of his eyes impatiently. “i’m nishimura riki. but, you can call me ni-ki! everyone does.”
“you don’t have a heartbeat,” jake says, cautiously taking a step back.
“well, of course, i don’t!” ni-ki says, cheerfully. “you don’t, either!”
he waits for a few seconds, hoping for a more informatory explanation. when nothing seems forthcoming except ni-ki’s grin growing more blinding in intensity, he decides to bite the bullet. “why don’t you have a heartbeat?”
ni-ki laughs, as if jake’s question is a silly one that doesn’t actually demand an answer. “the same reason you don’t have one, i’m guessing?” the younger boy says, rubbing the bridge of his nose absent-mindedly. “you’re funny. where are you from?”
“brisbane,” jake says, automatically. he shakes his head, trying to get rid of the fuzzy feeling overtaking his brain. “i moved here for college.”
“you look korean, though?” ni-ki says, uncertainly. “you sound australian, if that helps. i know a few australian vampires! are you like felix hyung?”
jake feels like he’s going to faint. he stumbles on his feet, tripping backwards, and his back hits the wall painfully.
“oh no!” ni-ki exclaims. “i’m so sorry! here, you can have some of mine; it’s not fresh but it will do!”
jake slides down onto the floor, his shivers maximizing themselves to the point of teeth chattering and permanent goosebumps. he’s dimly aware of ni-ki’s tall frame bending down next to him, holding out a red sports bottle and twisting off its cap. he gasps in a breath, more out of habit than necessity, and feels his lungs rattle in discomfort, before-
dark, sweet, red-
dead, decaying roses-
the musty, damp smell of a dumpster after the rains-
he grabs the bottle out of ni-ki’s hands, lifts it to his mouth and drinks.
“we call it blood sickness,” ni-ki says, swinging their hands together. “what i don’t understand is why you let it go on for so long, hyung.”
jake has no idea how he went from chugging down a bottle of blood given to him by a teenage vampire to skipping the second half of his scheduled classes to hang out with said teenage vampire who didn’t waste any time calling him hyung, but he’s glad he did.
“what i don’t understand is how you have an emergency stash of blood on you, all the time,” he counters, squeezing ni-ki’s hand. he feels like a new person (or vampire, if he wants to get technical) after downing every drop that ni-ki explained he keeps around for emergencies, like random bouts of blood sickness. his nose no longer sounds clogged, and his eyesight is a lot better than it was, a few hours ago. “and, how do you get to walk around in broad daylight, like this?” he concludes, gesturing towards the other boy’s t-shirt and shorts.
“you’re seriously undereducated, you know that, hyung?” ni-ki says, giggling. he turns to look at jake, narrowing his eyes. “didn’t your parents tell you anything?”
jake blinks. “i- why would my parents tell me-”
“wait a second!” ni-ki digs his heels into the concrete sidewalk, forcing jake to a halt. “you’re not a born one?”
“if by born one, you mean a person who’s born a vampire,” jake says, slowly, “then, no. i’m not. i was bitten like four months ago.”
ni-ki stares at him like jake’s just announced himself as the new messiah of the twenty first century. “but, you said you haven’t had any blood for four months.”
he nods hesitantly. “that’s right, i haven’t.”
“how are you sane, right now?!!” ni-ki screeches, wobbling dangerously from side to side. “you should be going feral! or, i don’t know? crazy?!”
jake looks around nervously, noticing a few people whose attentions have been attracted due to ni-ki’s antics. he starts speedwalking, pulling ni-ki along. he probably looks like he’s trying to kidnap the other boy who’s still dragging himself unsteadily, trying to match jake’s footsteps despite being the taller one, but no one steps forward to try and intervene.
“keep your voice down, ni-ki!” he hisses, casting furtive glances behind them. “is that a big deal?”
“it’s practically unheard of!” ni-ki answers, way too loudly. “what about your sire? where are they? this is gross negligence! you should file a lawsuit!”
“you mean the person who turned me?” jake asks, walking faster. the word ‘sire’ feels dirty and disgusting to think of, let alone say it out loud. “i don’t know. i think she ran off. she probably thought i was dead.”
“YOU’RE AN ACCIDENTAL NEWBORN?!!!”
it takes twenty minutes for jake to pacify an old woman who sticks her head out of her third-floor window to scream about how they are disturbing the occupants of the residential area they are in, while ni-ki tries to hide behind his shorter stature, unsuccessfully. after they escape her clutches, they find their way to a children’s park, deserted and gloomy under the light of a setting sun.
they sit down on the swings, and jake watches shadows lengthen their way across the sandpit while ni-ki hums under his breath, entertaining himself by playing with jake’s fingers, making bunny and dog shapes against the slowly approaching twilight.
“we should go back,” he says, pulling back his hoodie sleeve to peer down at his watch. “it’s almost time for dinner, anyway. what about you?”
“oh,” ni-ki says, looking up. guilt spreads across his face. “i- i never told any of my hyungs about-”
the rest of ni-ki’s statement is lost to jake’s ears, as he finds himself being flung backwards.
he collides against the low-hanging wall encircling the park, and hears something crack. as gravity takes hold of him, making him slump onto the dirt, there is a blessed moment of shock, fueling his numbness and ignorance.
and then, the pain hits.
he lies in a trembling heap, his tongue throbbing indignantly, protesting at being bitten so viciously, while fire spreads down his spine, culminating in the epicenter that is the space between his t12 and l1 vertebrae. it hurts, like nothing else has ever done before. not when he was twelve and dislocated his arm, trying to climb a tree to get to his trapped kite. not when he was seven and layla got scared of his spiderman plushie and accidentally bit his leg while they were in the middle of a tug of war involving said plushie. not when he was five and cracked his head against his dad’s study desk while trying to get his attention by replicating the movement and sirens of a fire truck.
not even turning hurt this much.
though, that’s probably because he doesn’t remember anything about how it happened.
“you’re an idiot!” he hears ni-ki yell. “tell him that he’s an idiot, heeseung hyung! what did you do that to jake hyung for?!”
“oh, so he’s jake hyung already?” another voice yells. “he’s a newborn vampire, ni-ki! he’s an unknown variable, he’s dangerous, and he’s definitely not your friend!”
“calm down, sunghoon! maybe, we should let ni-ki explain-”
“what’s there to explain, jay-”
“that’s enough.”
at that command, everything goes quiet. the raised voices are instantly cut off, leaving behind a heavy, muffled feeling as if he’s underwater. the only sounds that echo across the width of the park are jake’s own raspy breaths and sobs, as he tries to stay still.
a large hand settles itself over his back, and he flinches, crying out as the sudden movement jars his displaced vertebrae.
“i know,” the same voice speaks, pitch low and honey-sweet, curling over his skin with a soothing aftertaste. “it hurts.”
the hand trails lower, coming to a stop over the area that’s still radiating white-hot flames down his spine. “i’m no healer, so this may hurt a bit more,” the voice says. “brace yourself, will you?”
jake barely has time to open his mouth and ask the voice what it’s doing before something happens.
the air grows colder, as if its warmth is being sucked out. meanwhile, the hand on his back grows impossibly warmer, in contrast. space shifts, time stops and his surrounding dimensions warp.
“there you go,” the voice says, sounding pleased, like it’s just completed a job well-done. “as good as new.”
it takes a few seconds for jake to realize that nothing hurts anymore.
he uses his palms to push himself up from the ground, and looks up. his eyes land on a pair of polished leather shoes, travelling up long legs clad in dark trousers, over a white shirt-wearing torso and impressively broad shoulders, and finally skimming over high cheekbones to come to rest on dark, amused eyes framed by silvery-gray strands.
“well met, newborn,” the man says, power vibrating through every syllable of his words. jake involuntarily shivers, and the owner of the honey-sweet voice immediately catches it, a corner of his lips quirking up in a breathtaking smirk. “welcome to seoul.”
ni-ki refuses to leave his side during the entirety of their journey to jake’s rented basement.
“since it’s a weekend tomorrow, we’ll come and pick you up at around eight,” he says, over the sound of the van’s engine. “i’m sure you need some time to yourself before you meet the whole coven.”
jake nods, and tries his best to look like he’s unaffected by everything that has happened to him, until now. it’s a little hard, considering the guy named park sunghoon has been glaring daggers at him since ni-ki introduced them, and every time he looks away, he can feel lee heeseung’s clinical stare sweeping over him, like he’s examining him for any blemishes before he can buy the final product, but he thinks he’s doing alright.
at least, he hasn’t reverted to using his aussie version of english yet, like he does when he’s extremely stressed.
“what’s your name?” sunghoon asks, abruptly as ni-ki moves his hand to grasp jake’s sleeve.
he chances a glance at the blond man, taking in his moles and perfect jawline as he represses the urge to straight up demand what his deal is. “jake,” he says, instead. “sim jake. nice to meet you.”
from the driver’s seat, park jay huffs out a laugh. “he threw you into a wall, man. you can let him know that he’s a giant douchebag.”
“yeah, well. that’s not the problem here,” jake says firmly, surprising himself. “i can understand that you wanted to protect ni-ki. but, can you please stop looking at me like i murdered your parents or something?”
jay bursts into guffaws, slapping the steering wheel uproariously, while sunghoon simply glares harder.
“jake,” heeseung says, leaning forward, his silver hair falling into his eyes charmingly. “is that the name you were born with?”
“um, my korean name is jaeyun, if that’s what you want to know,” he says, shrugging. “but, no one calls me that anymore.”
“then, i hope you won’t mind if I do,” heeseung says, inclining his head, from where he sits beside sunghoon with an impeccable posture. “jaeyun-ah.”
if jake had a working heart, he’s pretty sure that it would have skipped a beat.
he looks away, choosing to fiddle with the hem of his hoodie instead of meeting heeseung’s eyes. “i don’t mind,” he mumbles. “it’s fine.”
long after he waves goodbye to ni-ki, watching the van turn the corner of his street and disappear from sight, the memory of heeseung’s lips shaping the letters of his name keeps him company in the dark.
“i don’t see why we have to take him there,” sunghoon complains, shooting a derisive look in jake’s direction. “it’s not like he’s one of us.”
“he’s a potential coven member!” ni-ki protests. “i know that you like to live in denial, hyung, but can you stop being so rude to jake hyung? he’s done nothing to deserve your bitchy behaviour!”
it hasn’t even been ten minutes since jake has been picked up by jay, sunghoon and ni-ki but an argument has already broken out between the two of them. sunghoon seems to live in a state of perpetual stone-cold silence, unless ni-ki is involved while the younger boy seems to relish challenging the older vampire every step of the way.
if jake didn’t know better, he would almost think-
“sunghoon, quit whining,” jay says, irritation lancing through his words like it’s a personal attack. “it’s heeseung hyung who asked me to take jake to his apartment. if you want to go against him, you’re welcome to do so.”
sunghoon presses his lips closed, and crosses his arms, opting to continue his and ni-ki’s argument through his eyes.
“and, ni-ki,” jay continues, “stop antagonizing sunghoon. he may be an indecisive idiot. but he’s still your hyung.”
“whatever,” ni-ki says, turning away and ignoring sunghoon’s stare like it’s nothing more than a cool breeze on a hot, summer day.
-nah, whatever he’s thinking right now, that can’t be it.
jake tugs his hoodie lower over his face, and slips his phone out of his pocket to check his messages. there’s one from his mom, asking him how his classes are, and if he will be able to call that night if he’s not too busy. he shoots off a confirmation, and then, shuffles sideways to look out the window.
he recognizes the area they’re driving through as an upscale part of seoul. the van starts to slow down, and jake wonders if the hypothesis about vampires living long enough to amass a criminal amount of wealth is true and if so, then how long heeseung has been alive for.
as if sensing his thoughts, jay turns back to look at him as soon as he stops the van, and gives him a solemn look. “to be truthful, no one knows how old heeseung hyung really is. so, just avoid stepping on his toes and you’ll be fine. he’s been alive for way too long to be surprised by anything he sees, anyway.”
they’re greeted at the door by a foxy-faced vampire, who looks like he’s a little younger than jake when it comes to human years.
“that’s sunoo hyung,” ni-ki says in an undertone that jake’s pretty sure everyone inside the apartment can hear. “he’s the least annoying out of all them. you’re gonna be great friends, hyung, i know it!”
sunoo leads them inside, into a huge, open-plan living room with a kitchen island situated to the far-right corner while a hallway to the left leads off to, presumably, the bedrooms.
jake takes in the spotless white walls and minimalistic décor with wide eyes, feeling just a little bit envious, when his own dingy, one-room basement comes to mind. then, he remembers that he’s a broke nineteen-year-old whose only source of income is the allowance lent to him by his parents, while heeseung is probably swimming in hard-earned opulence because of his who-knows-how-many-years of work experience (what does he do, anyway?) and decides that fair is fair.
“and, that’s jungwon hyung,” ni-ki says, waving his hand at a dark-haired boy curled up on one of the couches with a book, his face bearing a remarkable resemblance to jay’s own cat-like features. he looks up, upon hearing his name and jake stops in his tracks.
“he’s unofficially second-in-command around here, but that’s only because he’s younger than heeseung hyung-”
“you’re human,” jake blurts out.
jungwon sets his book down on the large glass table situated in front of him, carefully marking his place with a bookmark before giving jake his full attention. “i’m human, yes. is that a problem?”
he shakes his head, frantically. “no, i’m sorry! i’m just surprised. that you know about all of this-”
jungwon sighs, turning a judgmental look upon jay, ni-ki and sunghoon. “no one told you about me?”
“don’t look at me,” jay says, raising his hands in the universal sign of ‘it ain’t me’. “i was busy making sure that ni-ki and sunghoon weren’t killing each other back there.”
“jungwon is waiting until he graduates college before he’s turned,” sunoo explains, giving jake a dimpled smile. “he’s next in line to inherit the leadership position from heeseung hyung, but he doesn’t want to look like a kid for the rest of eternity because he thinks that no one will take him seriously if he does.”
“it’s a valid reason,” jungwon says, defensively as if he’s expecting jake to disagree.
“no, i get it, dude,” jake says, trying for a grin. “i hadn’t grown out of my golden retriever phase when i was turned. and, now i’m going to be stuck as a puppy forever.”
jungwon laughs, looking pleasantly surprised. “if it’s any consolation, most people dig the loyalty type.” he leans over the glass table and picks up his book, sliding a finger along the edge to get to his bookmark, and that’s when it happens-
five people, four vampires and a human, tense up as the scent of blood wafts through the air, emerging from a newly opened cut on jungwon’s index finger, painting a thin, red line against the side of the book responsible for the injury.
jake goes stiff as the smell hits his sinuses.
he’s dealt with many papercuts after he was turned. he’s held his breath in class, in the library, and in the cafeteria on one memorable occasion, and none of those slapped him in the throat as hard as this one is doing. maybe, it’s because he tasted blood for the first time in his life yesterday, and now that he knows what it feels like, he wants more. maybe, it’s because he’s only had a pint of the stuff in four fucking months and according to ni-ki, he should be stark raving mad in his search for sustenance. maybe, it’s because he’s a vampire and he’s finally beginning to turn into the monster he has always known he was.
whatever the reason is, he knows he can’t give in to the urge.
he brings his right hand up to his lips, opens his mouth wide, and bites down into soft, unmarked skin.
his fangs slice through his own flesh like a hot knife through butter, but the venom present in the bite turns his muscles numb in the space of a second, even as blood, thick, viscous and completely unlike a human’s, drips from his palm onto the floor.
a stunned silence rings through the apartment.
“you-” sunghoon whispers. “you just-”
“dude, you’re fucking crazy,” jay says, in a low voice.
“that’s…” jungwon says, trailing off as he wraps the end of his t-shirt around his finger, removing the lingering smell of the crimson, life-giving liquid from jake’s vicinity, before sunoo picks up from where he left off. “…that’s a lot of blood.”
“hyung,” ni-ki says, shaking his head in disbelief. “did you just bite your own hand clean through, to get rid of your bloodlust?”
“jaeyun-ah,” a familiar, amused voice makes jake turn around, his mouth still clamped around his hand when he locks eyes with heeseung. the man is standing in the middle of the hallway, dressed in an all-black ensemble this time, the dark colour playing off of his silvery-gray hair in a devilish manner. “why is it that every time i see you, you end up hurt?”
jake attempts to shrug in a eh, what can i do? manner, but ends up digging deeper into his flesh as the movement jostles his fangs.
okay, maybe it’s just not his year.
on monday morning, he steps into the shower with higher spirits than he has had, for the past four months.
after an extensive talk with the members of ni-ki’s coven, he’s been integrated into their fold as a probationary coven mate, seeing as no one has any idea how to track down the vampire who turned him (all of them, even sunghoon, were very indignant upon finding out that he was left without a guide for his foray into the undead life) and coven life means free blood supply every week.
“we need to feed at least once every three weeks,” jay says, waving an o positive blood bag in jake’s face. “any less than that can be fatal in the long term.”
“which reminds me,” jungwon cuts in, ignoring jay’s offended look at being cut off mid-speech. “what was it like after you were turned? how were you able to control your bloodlust for so long?”
“i don’t really know,” jake says, slowly, looking down at his hand. it took almost little to no effort for heeseung to heal the bite, and looking at it now, no one would be able to guess that it was basically torn in half a few minutes ago. “i woke up in my bedroom, and my throat felt itchy. my clothes were totally soaked in dried blood, and you can guess how relieved i was when i remembered that my parents were going to be out of town for the rest of the week.”
“and then?” ni-ki demands, eagerly.
jake clenches his fists. “i changed out of my clothes and went downstairs to check on layla. she... wasn’t that happy to see me, at first.”
“who’s layla?” sunoo asks, curiously.
“my dog. she’s a border collie,” jake answers, wrapping his arms around himself. “she wouldn’t come near me for a week.”
a hand lands on jake’s shoulder, wrapping over his scapula in a way that makes his stomach swoop. “i’m sorry,” heeseung says. “that must have been hard.”
“yeah,” jake says, closing his eyes briefly. “i’ve had her for ages. she’s- she’s my best friend. she came around, though.”
he opens the door of his tiny second-hand refrigerator and picks out a b positive blood bag as his breakfast, as he sings the lyrics to justin bieber’s ghost under his breath. glancing at the clothes he has laid out on his single mattress, he allows himself to break into a wide smile.
“so, look,” sunghoon begins. “the burning in sunlight thing? that’s a myth.”
“seriously?” jake says, surprised. “why do people believe that, then?”
sunghoon shrugs. “why did people believe that burning witches at the stake was the only way to kill them? i don’t know, man. humans are a wacky lot.”
“you were a human fifty years ago,” ni-ki says, sniffing.
“the point is,” sunghoon says, loudly. “the most the sun does is give us nasty burns. born vampires like ni-ki are unaffected by any amount of sunlight, but newborn ones are especially sensitive, especially ones with blood sickness,” he emphasizes, giving jake a pointed look.
“you suffered from blood sickness-”
“you weren’t there when it happened, ni-ki,” sunghoon interrupts, gritting his teeth. “if one more word comes out of your mouth, so help me, god-”
“oh, yeah? try me-”
“you can start off with some light exposure,” sunoo says, talking over ni-ki who subsides into a sulky silence. “try wearing t-shirts first before you migrate to tank tops or shorts.”
“don’t ask,” heeseung whispers into jake’s ear when he catches him staring in their direction, making a line of goosebumps crawl down his back. “ni-ki and sunghoon have a rather complicated history.”
“ni-ki and sunghoon can hear you,” sunghoon says, coldly.
“seeing you talk about yourself in the third person never ceases to amaze me,” jay says, flicking sunghoon’s forehead. “chill, man.”
jake snorts, as ni-ki’s sullen expression floats through his mind. he’s known the kid all of two eventful days, and he already adores the heck out of him. he has always wondered what it would feel like to be an older brother and now, he feels like he knows.
slinging his bag onto his shoulder, he checks his reflection in his phone’s front camera (another myth debunked!) and nods, satisfied with how he looks. he can’t wait for the world to meet this new and improved version of sim jake.
“stop worrying so much about me, mom,” he says, angling his phone better so that his parents get a good look at his face through the camera. “i’m totally fine, my grades have never been better and i’m eating all my vegetables.”
“can you blame me?” his mom frets, running a hand through her hair. “we come home from your aunt’s and find out that you dyed your hair behind our backs!”
“that was an impulse decision!” he says, laughing. “you believe me, don’t you, dad?”
“as much as your mom does,” his dad says, teasingly. “give it a rest, honey. jake is a smart kid. i’m sure he’s already made plenty of friends back there.”
“have you, really?” his mom demands. “i know you love keeping your nose buried in your books twenty-four-seven when you aren’t playing soccer, but it’s not like you have time for any sports there.”
“for your information, my social life is flourishing,” jake says, turning his nose up in a dignified manner. “my juniors worship the ground i walk on and my seniors can’t spend a single day without being graced by my presence.”
“alright, you narcissist,” his mom says, breaking into a grin. “i’ll stop worrying. your brother’s going to be sorry that he missed you.”
“tell him that i’m gonna steal his spot as the soccer king when i visit for the holidays,” jake says, struggling to remain straight-faced. “love you, mom. love you, dad.”
he relaxes back into his pillows after tossing his phone onto the rickety table beside his bed. his lighting is shot for the week, or until his landlord calls the electrician, so the only light filtering into the room is through the skylight. it’s sunny outside, and it feels almost therapeutic, as he traces patterns of dancing motes in the narrow beams of sunlight, his enhanced eyesight allowing him to witness revolving rainbows and kaleidoscopes amidst the dust particles.
closing his eyes, he thinks back on the past few weeks, recalling conversations, meetings and discoveries, all focused around one thing: the undead way of life.
he was pleasantly surprised to find out that jungwon, sunoo and sunghoon attended the same university as him. though, they belong to different departments than him which explains why their paths have never crossed before. but now, he spends almost every lunch hour at their table, where they do anything but actually eat. he often joins jungwon on tteokbokki or ramyeon days (he will always love ramyeon, no matter what), but sunoo and sunghoon don’t like the taste of normal human food as much as jake does. it does nothing for vampire nutrition but he enjoys chowing down on carbs, regardless.
they are, sometimes, joined by ni-ki who sneaks into campus, after ditching his own schedule at the local high school he attends. even though he’s a senior, he isn’t too bothered by the effects of his truancy. “i know the entire syllabus by heart, anyway,” he protests whenever jake needles him about missing his classes. “and, heeseung hyung always says that rebellion builds character.”
that’s another thing that jake finds fascinating about the coven.
their respect and admiration for lee heeseung is on another level, altogether.
jake gets it, he really does. heeseung, on top of being the unanimous leader (“alpha,” jay says. “it was always uncontested. even after wonie takes over as leader, heeseung hyung is still going to be the alpha.”), is unimaginably powerful. from what jake understands, every vampire has a special ability apart from being able to transform into furry critters at will. sunghoon wields his in the form of telekinesis. ni-ki prides himself on being an empath. jay is amazingly strong and agile while jake loves hearing stories about sunoo’s thrall magic. but, heeseung?
heeseung’s power is something arcane. from the few times jake has fallen witness to him using it, it seems to be woven into the very thread of the fabric that the universe is made up of. the most basic term he has come up with to describe it, is energy manipulation, and for a physics major like him, that was extremely hard for him to decide on, believe it or not.
all things considered; he gets that respect is the only way to go when you get to meet someone like lee heeseung in real life.
which is perhaps why, it takes him an embarrassingly long time to figure out that, what he feels for his coven leader is more than just innocent admiration.
“oh my god,” yu-jin breathes, nudging him harshly. “check out that dude on your twelve o’ clock.”
“what?” he asks, absent-mindedly, as he tries to multitask combing through his file folder to search for the homework assignment issued in calculus, that day, along with walking.
“he’s a ten on the hot guy alert meter!” yu-jin exclaims. “they don’t make them like this around here!”
“they don’t make them like what around here?” he says, confused before letting out a sound of triumph as he manages to extract the paper from underneath another assignment.
“like a total snack,” ningning chips in, popping up on jake’s other side.
he chokes on his spit. “what- what brought this on?”
“that hottie,” yu-jin says, sighing dreamily as she stares off into the distance. jake turns to look at the person she seems to be fixated on, and the sight in front of him makes him want to lock himself in his dark basement, crawl underneath his tiny mattress and never venture out in public again.
his last lecture for the day has just ended, and lee heeseung is waiting for him in the college grounds, leaning against a wall in all of his tall, dark-suited, devastatingly handsome glory, in front of the building he usually attends his lectures in.
jake is ready to bet his undead life on the suspicion that heeseung has heard every word of the conversation he’s just had with his classmates.
said man catches his eye, and raises his hand in a two-fingered salute before pushing off of the wall, and making his way over to them.
“he’s coming over here,” ningning says, her voice going shrill. “jake, why is he coming over here?”
before jake can say anything in his defense, heeseung is suddenly there, larger than life and very much present as he wraps a strong arm around his shoulders, and pulls him close.
“sorry to cut in,” he says, flashing a blinding smile at yu-jin and ningning. “but, jaeyun has an appointment with me, today, so i’m going to have to borrow him for now.”
“um, yeah. sure. totally,” ningning stutters while yu-jin nods, waving her hands in a ‘go ahead’ gesture.
“see you tomorrow, guys!” jake says, his voice amazingly steady as compared to the absolute panic fest going on inside his head. he wonders when he became so small as heeseung tugs him along, keeping him tucked under his arm like jake’s going to run off and disappear the moment he lets go. then, he looks at the other vampire through the corner of his eyes, and realizes that he’s not small; heeseung’s just unfairly tall.
not to mention, the muscles he conceals underneath his perfectly pressed outfits, making jake’s own faint abs seem almost non-existent.
“this is unexpected,” he says, ducking his head and hoping none of the students gawking at heeseung can tell that it’s jake whom he’s walking with. “did you need something from me?”
“in a manner of speaking, yes,” heeseung says, shooting him a crooked smile. “i needed your company.”
“oh,” he breathes, feeling somewhat giddy for whatever reason. “so, where are we going? are the others joining us, too?”
“i wouldn’t think so,” heeseung says, his smile growing wider. “you can consider this an evaluation of sorts, if it will make you feel more comfortable.”
right. of course. heeseung is the alpha of their coven. he needs to make sure that jake is a responsible vampire before he can fully accept him into the club.
though, jake has a hard time believing that it’s merely a formal meeting that they are attending when they end up in a cozy, hole in the wall shop with steaming bowls of ramyeon in front of them, that heeseung pays for before jake can even make a move to take out his wallet.
“there are a few things you should know before you commit yourself,” heeseung says, leaning forward and fixing jake with an unreadable look. his bowl is still untouched, and when jake glances down at his half-empty one, he feels a frisson of embarrassment run through his body. laying down his chopsticks beside his napkin, he attempts to appear unruffled and nods, signaling heeseung that he’s listening.
“you’re obviously intelligent enough to realize that the existence of vampires is an open secret,” he says, his gaze unblinking as he stares at jake. “what your sire did, that’s not proper vampire etiquette, not by a long shot.”
“so, does that make me, like, illegal?” jake ventures, smiling nervously.
heeseung looks at him for a moment before breaking into a smile of his own. “no, nothing like that. what i want you to realize is that no matter how terribly a sire treats his creations, they’re unequivocally bound to him until their deaths.”
“what do you mean?” jake demands. “you make it sound like a master and slave contract.”
“that’s exactly what it is,” heeseung says. “there are laws preventing indiscriminate use of orders, but wild vampires, like the one who turned you, are not very good at following those.” he picks up one of his chopsticks, twirling it around his fingers. “your sire, she might come back one day and find you alive and well. if she does, she might remember you as a human she once drained and left to die. and, if that happens, she will have to decide if she wants to take the easy way or the hard way.”
jake fists his fingers around a handful of his hoodie and asks, “what do those entail, exactly?”
“first, the easy way,” heeseung answers, lifting his chopstick. “she will leave you alone with the coven you’re affiliated with in order to not draw any unwanted attention to herself. second, the hard way,” he says, lifting up his other chopstick. “she’ll decide that you’re too great of a prize to pass upon and make a claim for your ownership.”
jake swallows, unsteadily. “that doesn’t sound too ethical.”
heeseung laughs, breaking the tension in the air that has gathered over the last few minutes. “don’t worry, it’s not. if the second thing ever happens, the high council will back you up. i just need to know that you are fully committed to being a member of my coven. as far as i know, you’re polite, smart and a model citizen. those qualities alone make you eligible for a proper membership.”
“and if i am?” jake asks, hesitantly.
heeseung’s lips slowly pull into a smirk, the tips of his exposed fangs glinting in the late afternoon sunlight. “if you are,” he begins, reclining back in his chair, and pinning him with a smoldering gaze that makes him feel like his nerve ends are being leisurely cooked over a summer grill. “then you can be assured that an alpha always protects his own.”
when jungwon breaks the news that jake is going to have to prepare himself for his initiation ceremony, he doesn’t expect to get stuck with sunghoon of all people, on an errand, while they go about choosing balloon brands and glitter packs.
“the actual ceremony is more like a glorified champagne party,” jungwon says, rolling his eyes. “it’s usually style over substance, and designed to introduce a newly inducted vampire to neighboring covens and the high council.”
“except with blood instead of champagne,” sunoo says, winking. “which is why the real party begins after all the guests leave.”
“real party? seriously?” jay demands, scoffing. “if crackers and ridiculous hats make up a real party, i shudder to imagine what you think a five year old’s birthday party should be.”
“he’s just sore that my birthday cakes were always bigger than his,” jungwon says, sticking his tongue out at his older brother. “don’t listen to him, jake hyung. you’re gonna have a lot of fun, i promise!”
“remind me again why we’re doing this,” sunghoon says, pulling out a pack of multi-colored balloons from a nearby rack stuffed to the brim with childish decorations.
“because ni-ki said that afterparties are an integral part of undead tradition,” jake dutifully answers.
“yeah, of course,” sunghoon snaps. “i forgot. ni-ki tells you everything.”
jake can’t help but frown at the other boy’s back as he strides ahead, leaving him behind as if he doesn’t want to hang around him for a second more than he has to. he still doesn’t know why sunghoon is always so mad at his presence, and the constant cold shoulders are driving him mad.
he swipes a few party favors from a nearby shelf without bothering to check what’s actually inside them, and makes to follow sunghoon when something roots his feet to the ground. he stands still for a moment, the sound of murmurs and shuffling footsteps of other shoppers filtering through his ears, and wonders what is making him feel so uneasy-
-and then, he feels it. there’s a prickling sensation between his shoulder blades that’s growing in intensity like he’s being watched by someone from between the shelf gaps.
a darkening sky, eldritch clouds, heavy rain-
a predator stalking its prey through blinding sheets of falling water-
an alley of dumpsters overflowing-
jake wheels around, feeling like invisible ants are crawling all over his skin, almost certain that he’s going to meet eyes with a blood red pair, but there’s nothing to be seen except rows and rows of rainbow hued party decorations.
five minutes later, he meets sunghoon at the cashier’s counter to get their purchases rung up. the blond vampire is the one who pays by using heeseung’s credit card, after which they carry out their goods to the van, where jay has been waiting for them to finish up.
“you can go on without me,” sunghoon says, shoving his hands into his pockets. “i want to walk back by myself.”
jay sighs, throwing a questioning look towards jake who shrugs. the dark-haired man turns to look at sunghoon and says, “suit yourself.”
jake manages to stay quiet for the duration of exactly three minutes after jay turns the key to start the engine, before he’s opening his mouth to ask, “what’s his deal?”
“don’t mind him too much,” jay says, shaking his head. “he’s just jealous.”
“jealous?” jake repeats, confused. “of whom?”
“you,” jay answers, without any preamble. “i suppose no one’s told you about him and ni-ki?”
he shakes his head, feeling like the pieces of the puzzle, he’s been staring at for days, are finally falling into place. “are they-”
“nope,” jay says, turning sideways to give him a rueful grin. “ni-ki has had a crush on him ever since he was a kid. everyone thought that they would end up together, but on ni-ki’s sixteenth birthday, hoon rejected him.”
jake blinks. “but, you just said that he’s jealous-”
“he is,” jay confirms. “just because he told ni-ki that they can’t be together doesn’t mean that there is no reciprocation from his side. he’s just way too stubborn to admit that he was wrong in the first place.” catching jake’s befuddled expression, he elaborates. “ni-ki’s parents entrusted him to heeseung hyung at a young age. and, sunghoon feels like going after his sire’s charge is a crime fit for punishment.”
“wait, so heeseung hyung is the one who-”
“turned sunghoon, yeah,” jay finishes. “hoon has always felt indebted to him, but personally, i don’t think hyung would mind ni-ki being in a relationship with hoon.”
“you say that like there are rules involved in dating,” jake says, bewildered. “is sunghoon not allowed to be with ni-ki or what?”
“vampires mate for eternity, jake,” jay says, his expression turning serious. “there’s a reason why most of us are single. once you choose someone, there’s no going back.” he shoots a loaded look at him, as if willing jake to understand something. “speaking of dating, how did your date with heeseung hyung go?”
he gapes at jay, his mouth falling open in denial. “that- that wasn’t a date! he was just-”
“taking you out to eat,” jay says, faux innocently, as he expertly maneuvers the van through the mid-morning rush in the streets. “only the two of you, alone. i assume he paid for the meal and dropped you home.”
“you’re evil,” jake groans. “i hope you choke on your next blood bag. i’m telling you that it wasn’t like that!”
“sure, jake,” jay agrees, easily. “whatever helps you keep your cool. i’m just saying that heeseung hyung never does this. take someone out for lunch, i mean.”
“how do you even know about that?” jake asks, trying to ignore the fact that he might have gone on his first date with a handsome guy, last week. “were you spying on us, or something?”
“here’s a tip for next time,” jay says, smirking. “when all of your friends are vampires, none of your secrets are actually secrets.”
the initiation ceremony isn’t as bad as jake had suspected it would be.
it’s a fairly calm affair, where he’s led around by his coven members, and introduced to other vampires as a new addition to the enha coven. he meets a few other australian homeboys, like skz’s lee felix and bang chan, takes a ton of pictures with txt’s choi beomgyu and exchanges numbers with all of them, promising meetups and outings in the future.
in fact, the only out-of-place thing that happens is his conversation with aespa’s alpha yu ji-min (“call me karina, jake.”), who approaches him during the last leg of the evening, when he’s sipping on some blood-infused orange juice, as an afterthought.
“you!” the dark-haired girl says, abruptly. “you smell like heeseung.”
he almost spits out the juice he’s just taken a swig of. “w-what?” he stutters after swallowing down and making sure that there’s nothing left in his mouth to be a cause for any unpleasant surprises. “i smell like whom-?”
“lee heeseung?” she repeats, raising an eyebrow. “your coven’s head alpha?”
“ji-min noona,” sunoo appears out of nowhere, hooking his arm around jake’s free one before he can even start to wonder what he should say in response to that baffling statement. “long time no see.”
“sunoo-ah,” she greets, inclining her head. “how long were you intending to hide the fact that your head alpha has already chosen his mate?”
“that’s hardly any of your business,” sunoo says, coldly. “in any case, stop trying to involve jake hyung in your schemes. heeseung hyung won’t be very happy if he finds out that you’ve been messing with him.”
“what heeseung doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she says, smiling angelically. “besides, i’ve a feeling that jake and i are going to be very close friends in the future. isn’t that right, jake?”
“karina!” heeseung interjects, striding towards their little group and saving jake from trying to think up an appropriate response. “there you are. where have you been?” it’s been an hour since jake was forced to part from heeseung’s side but the man still looks as put together as ever, looking sinfully attractive in dark casual wear.
“lee heeseung, you sly dog,” karina exclaims, her attention captured by the other vampire. “what is this behavior?” she demands, gesturing towards jake. “he’s almost drowning in your scent!”
a muscle jumps in heeseung’s jaw, before his expression changes, going smooth and inscrutable as he graces jake with a brief glance. “never mind that,” he says, reaching for karina’s arm. “there are some things we need to take care of.”
“you’re not going to be at the afterparty?” jake quickly asks, before heeseung can leave.
the older vampire pauses for a moment, regret overtaking his face. “i’m sorry, jake. i’ll try to make it back as quick as i can.”
more than karina’s cryptic comments about scents and mates, what’s bothering him is the name heeseung called him before he disappeared from his sight. jake. not jaeyun-ah. not jaeyun-ie. not jaeyun. but, jake.
he sighs, as he cradles a cup of hot chocolate between his sweater paws, his bare feet tracing nonsensical shapes over the tiled floor of heeseung’s balcony. he’s been out here for about half an hour now, from the moment ni-ki cranked up the karaoke machine and challenged sunoo to a ‘best of three’ battle. for the sake of heeseung’s neighbors, jake hopes that the walls are soundproofed. he can hear jay now, who’s warbling along to every moment of you enthusiastically, while jungwon fulfils the role of backing vocals, and while they sound amazing, loud music in the middle of the night can ruin anyone’s day.
he never expected to find something like this when he initially planned on returning to south korea for college. then, he got bitten and gave up hope of ever having a normal life. it feels surreal sometimes, how everything fell into place so perfectly. sure, he is a vampire now and he needs a steady supply of blood to survive, and people are eventually going to notice how he never seems to age. but, he’s not alone anymore. he’s part of a coven now, and he’s thankful for everyone he’s met so far (yes, even sunghoon, whose grumpy demeanor has grown on him like a particularly prickly fungus).
most of all, he’s thankful for heeseung who accepted him into his makeshift family so easily, without a single complaint or rebuke.
or, at least, he should be thankful.
however, all he feels when he thinks of heeseung walking away, his hand intimately wrapped around karina’s arm as he leans down to whisper something into her ear, is the embarrassing emotion of jealousy.
all his life, he’s tried his best to be someone his parents and friends would be proud of. he’s shared his toys, books, notes and food with anyone who’s ever needed it. he’s never begrudged people their rightful possessions. he’s been the definition of the word ‘nice’ and it has never bothered him, until today.
you’re stupid, he tells himself. heeseung is welcome to date whomever he wants. why should you be upset that he ditched your initiation afterparty to spend time with someone who seems to know him better than you ever will?
oh, wow, his brain retorts. i don’t know, maybe because you like him? a little too much, to be perfectly candid?
well, fuck-
“jake hyung!” sunoo appears next to him, a panicked expression on his face. “i swear i just turned my back for a minute to get some more juice!”
he dials sunghoon’s number for the umpteenth time, keeping all of his senses peeled for any hint of the younger boy. after sunoo announced that the blond vampire had snuck out without telling anyone where he was going, jake wasted no time in running out of heeseung’s apartment to search for him, without even bothering to put on his shoes.
“i’ll keep ni-ki distracted,” sunoo said, smoothing his bangs down his forehead nervously. “when he finds out, it won’t be good. jay hyung and jungwon are tired of their arguments, and if another one begins, someone’s going to get injured tonight.”
as the call goes to voicemail again, he hopes that sunoo was joking. though, something tells him that he probably wasn’t.
“come on, sunghoon,” he mutters under his breath. “don’t be a jerk. answer your phone.”
he picks up his pace, thankful for the empty streets due to the isolated location of heeseung’s home, and almost misses a familiar silhouette perched at a small table in front of a convenience store, in the distance.
sunghoon looks up, as jake comes to a stop beside his slumped figure, but doesn’t say anything.
“dude, come on!” he whines, placing his palms over the plastic table and leaning down to look the vampire in the face. “do you know how worried we were? you can’t just run off like that!”
“i don’t want to talk to you, of all people, right now,” sunghoon says, flatly, turning away.
“what’s wrong with me?” he demands, a little hurt. “wait a minute, have you been drinking?” he asks, staring at the myriad of empty soju bottles stacked neatly at sunghoon’s feet. “you do know that you can’t get drunk, right?”
“it doesn’t hurt to try,” the blond says, irritably. “can you just leave me alone? if you haven’t noticed, i’m an adult. and, i’ve been a vampire longer than you have.”
“this isn’t a competition,” he says, bewildered. “you could have just said that you wanted to leave the party for a little while. everyone knows that karaoke can get overwhelming-”
“it wasn’t the karaoke, okay?” sunghoon interrupts, his voice carrying an undertone of desperation. “it was- it was ni-ki!”
jake’s mouth snaps shut at that admission, and he takes a seat opposite sunghoon, sensing that this is a sensitive topic for the other vampire.
“i’m all ears,” he declares. “you can talk to me if you want.”
sunghoon’s woebegone gaze transforms into a cold glare and jake almost cheers at this return of his usual ice prince attitude. “why would i even want to do that?”
he shrugs, bestowing the boy with a winning smile. “because i’m here, right now? i won’t tell ni-ki if that’s what you’re worried about.”
sunghoon keeps quiet for a few minutes, as if debating the pros and cons of an impromptu therapy session with jake as his handler and then, shaking himself out of his stupor, says, “fine, but this is only because heeseung hyung has chosen you.”
jake wants to ask him what he means by that but, stays mum in case sunghoon decides that he wants to change his mind.
“he looked so happy, you know?” sunghoon begins, wrapping his fingers around the edge of the table. “he looked like he was on top of the world when he won against sunoo, by one point.”
“that’s a good thing, right?” he prompts, gently.
“yes,” sunghoon agrees, immediately before his face crumples. “he doesn’t really need me.”
the whispered statement hangs between them, sucking all light out of the air, and jake thinks that he understands. it hasn’t been long since he’s realized that he feels some type of way about heeseung, but he feels like he can relate. heeseung is an all-powerful ancient being. jake, by all intents and purposes, was just born yesterday. why would the older man ever want him by his side?
“that’s not true,” he rallies. “ni-ki does need you. have you seen how antsy he gets when he doesn’t know where you are?”
“you’re just saying that,” sunghoon says, dismissively. “i lost my chance with him, a long time ago, jake. i treated his feelings like they were insignificant and practically told him that he didn’t matter.”
“damn,” he says, wincing. “i had no idea it was that bad.”
“jay was right,” sunghoon admits, miserably. “i’m an indecisive idiot. i know what i want but i’m too much of a coward to ever go for it. ni-ki gave me everything, and i threw it all away.”
“look, maybe it isn’t as much of a lost cause as you think it is,” jake says, earnestly. “maybe-”
he’s rudely interrupted as he gets violently shoved out of his seat, and ends up sprawled over the sidewalk. a high-pitched snarl rings through the night, and something goes crashing.
“shit-!” he hears sunghoon curse. there’s a tinkling of breaking glass. “fuck, jake, get out of here!”
he rolls onto his back and flips to his feet in one smooth movement, catching sight of sunghoon pinned beneath a growling figure beside the shattered remains of the plastic table, his features strained with effort, as he tries to keep a rabid vampire’s snapping mouth away from his neck.
his mind goes blank with confusion and shock. why isn’t sunghoon using his telekinesis? where did that vampire come from? why is it attacking sunghoon?
where the fuck is the convenience store cashier?
“get off- me- you freak!” sunghoon snarls back, baring his own teeth in an attempt to intimidate. the rouge vampire remains unfazed, its eyes gleaming in the shadows with a familiar crimson red hue.
jake’s body moves on its own.
a second later, both him and the newcomer collide against concrete as he tackles it off of sunghoon. there is a beat of collective disbelief, a moment of killing intent. somewhere, to his left, sunghoon yells out another expletive. time slows down.
razor sharp fangs slice into the smooth, unmarred skin of his neck, and the body above him tenses up, in what jake’s mind comprehends as the vampire gearing up to tear his throat out.
i’m going to die.
he lifts his head to stare down into a pair of vermillion eyes, clouded over with frenzy and bloodlust.
i’m going to die.
and then, as if it had been waiting an entire lifetime for this moment, a spark flies through the air.
i don’t want to die.
a red-hot fire, roaring in its fearlessness and unforgiving in its intensity, burns into existence at his command.