Briar Rose - Taekook

Chapter 39

Im really sorry for the long wait! I'll probably be able to update much more frequently now. Thanks for waiting! 💜 Also thank you SO MUCH for 30k reads!!!! I never thought I would get this far. :)

XXXIX: Jungkook

Tonight, I have another nightmare.

I'm back on the battlefield, Lucius holding me in his viselike grip, murderous face grinning down at me. His knife gleams in the moonlight, the silver shining as if already covered in blood. When I scream, he only laughs, digging his knife in deeper. Every time Lucius cuts me, his face changes from Jimin, to Jin, to Taehyung.

I wake up in cold sweat, clutching the blanket to my chest. My breathing is erratic, and the light that filters in through a nearby window pierces my vision. Groaning, I roll to the side, blinking my eyes. I reach out my arms, seeking out the warm hands and gentle words that greet me whenever I wake up from a nightmare.

But there's no one beside me.

Of course there isn't. Memories cascade into my head, and I want to push them back as I remember Jimin's cloth, and Taehyung's sad eyes looming over me. How he kissed me so gently before making me face the handkerchief drugged with chloroform.

The separation.

The feeling is worse than I ever thought possible. A part of me wails for the piece it's lost, crying out from the sharp pain. The soulmate bond is stretched thin, and I can feel an ache in my heart. All the happiness I had felt being with Taehyung throughout the years is washed away, replaced by the immediate pain of loss.

I run a hand over my mark, calling on it for comfort. Remembering the ghost of Taehyung's touch as he used to kiss it every night. How we would cuddle afterwards, lost in each other's warmth. Would we ever be able to do that again? Be so carefree without any of the darkness that now looms over us?

I'm so deep in thought that I don't hear the bedroom door being opened, and a familiar silver-haired figure hesitantly enters, holding a bowl of broth in his hands. It's only when he sets the broth down with a soft clink on a table that I look up. I immediately regret it when I see those silver eyes; the same ones which had assisted in my drugging.

"You―you―" I back away from him like a scared animal. Jimin takes a step towards me, but stops when he sees that my back is pressed against the bed frame. The sickeningly sweet scent of chloroform still taints the air, and I want to cower away from it.

"Jungkook, please listen―" I ignore Jimin's pleading and jump out of bed, rushing past him to the door. There's a long wooden corridor stretched out before me, and I slip on the polished oak before getting back up and running down the stairs. Downstairs seems to be a kitchen, and Baekhyun is there, stirring something in a large pot. He looks up when he hears me coming.

"Oh hey Jungkook, I―"

I'm out the front door before he can finish. My bare feet are cold on the stone porch while I look around in wonder, taken, for a moment, by the mesmerizing landscape.

Taehyung wasn't lying.

Beautiful flower fields stretch out as far as the eye can see, surrounded by crystal lakes. In the distance, tall mountains stretch up to the sky, their snow-covered peaks high enough to touch the heavens. The sky is a clear blue with a white cloud floating here and there. The sun's rays are muted, as always in the vampire world, casting a warm glow on the land. All in all, it's a picturesque place, fit to be on the front of a fancy postcard.

But it might as well have been a frozen wasteland.

Because Taehyung isn't here.

Running through the flowers, I distantly hear someone calling my name. But I block it out as I search the green landscape for some kind of exit. Some way to get back.