❝ the dagger plucks the mind, but
not the heart. ❞
-Chapter 41, The Sweetest Contempt, by yeonnieong
--
ONG RAEYEON
Slithering through the silent darkness, was her very heart beating. The devastated friend of hers never once spared eye-contact, or a single tear as he was covered in scars and bruises. She couldn't just let them go after what they did to Jihoon, but Raeyeon knew well of herself as a craven coward, a waste of space, and worthless.
No, I must find a way to help.
"Question one," Natalie uttered, fishing one of the piled papers out of her file. "what do you see?"
The papyrus held a simple photo of a petite, fragile Caucasian lady undergoing some home-tasks, a broomstick in her clutch, as the pic seemed to have been taken when she was sweeping the marble floor. However, Raeyeon squinted her eyes when she noticed something, or someone, bizarre peeking through her house windows, eyes bloodshot red and fangs ready to feed on flesh.
Raeyeon tried not to look as intimidated, "A lady doing chores."
"Anything else?" Natalie asked, observing Raeyeon's every facial feature.
"No."
Noticeably expecting the answer, Natalie fixed the rim of her glasses. She clicked her fingers at an instant, as the guards marched their way towards Jihoon, built arms ready to throw yet another torturous punch.
"W-Wait, what are you doing?!" Raeyeon yelled. "Don't you dare touch him!"
Natalie smirked once more, "One more lie, and he'll die." those venomous words she spat. "If he dies, I've got lots in store, you know? More and more of your little friends in miserable plight." the witch chuckled. "I'll ask you one more time, Ms. Ong. What else do you see?"
Raeyeon was in a painful deep contemplation. She was well aware that these must've meant something; because every question, in a colossal insanity, may end up to a crucial jackpot that tricks the limited brains. If these answers Raeyeon knew were told, would there be a larger entity of vampire victims? Would Jihoon still get killed? Was this all a fancy play?
I want to go home.
"5 seconds, or else-"
"A vampire," Raeyeon bit her lower lip. "with red eyes."
The atmosphere had an instant freeze after her answer. Natalie, who'd kept a sly, relaxed posture stood her upper body in a straight attitude, her arms that were clinging onto her files plopping onto her lap. The guards, who were strictly ordered to keep watch of Jihoon, as well as herself, loosened their grip, even to the extent that one of them placed their palm on the mouth of their mask.
Jihoon didn't look surprised at all, by contrast.
Natalie coughed, hands trembling, "H-How about..." she struggled to keep in place, some of her papers slipping off the files. She desperately shoved one of them in front of Raeyeon's eyes, "This!"
This time, it was a withered elder, his back crouched as he leaned his force onto his stick; he had a bald head, eyes covered by the black pair of sunglasses he was attired with, as if he were blind, lips curving into a grandfatherly smile. But once again, Raeyeon saw different. She noticed that the smile had no good intention, instead, forming a devilish smirk, and the sunglasses weren't enough to cover the snake-like slit shaped pupils of his; his withered skin in an ugly green; as well as yellow freckles spread not only on his cheeks, but his arms and legs.
"I don't know..." Raeyeon said honestly. "I've never seen a creature like this," she tried to recall the books she read as she was a child, to where she was now, all the fictional concepts she learned. "he looks like an ogre though."
"My goodness," Natalie leaned back with an impressed look. She scoffed, "the enemy exists."
Raeyeon furrowed her eyebrows, still completely lost and muddled in this wicked business. "What do you mean?" her attention instantly shifted to Jihoon, meeting his eyes, trying to search for answers. He was already muttering words under his breath, trying to spell things out with his bruised lips.
What?
Jihoon tried to tell me once more without making a single sound.
Oh my God Raeyeon, please be smart for once.
He tried again.
She shook her head, still not getting the code.
Then he clicked his tongue.
"GET OUT OF HERE!"
Raeyeon widened her eyes when the boy had a sudden outburst with tears in the edge of his eyes. She attempted to stand, but was immediately strangled by one of the guards, her lap tangled in yet another chain, her hands bleeding due to the painful force exerted to free herself overlapping the grip. Dominance flashed on Natalie's face when she watched the guards spitefully harassing the girl, casually placing her phone on her ears as she called someone,
"Boss," she said, almost squealing. "I have excellent news to light up your day."
Grunting, Raeyeon scrambled in place helplessly.
"We have the human descendant."
What on Earth—
"What?" Raeyeon blurted out.
Natalie smiled, "Yes sweetie, you're the hidden gem." she leaned in closer to Raeyeon's face. "shan't we have a little bit of walk now? Boss wants to meet you." she giggled when the girl's shoulders dropped. Then her smile flopped,
"You're really going to wish you were dead."
--
PARK WOOJIN
"Did you get your head hit by something?" he finally asked the question he'd kept for the whole journey. The duplicated Raeyeon smiled, and Woojin cringed, "you know, you're acting really different, it's making me think that human scientists succeeded on that doppelganger thing."
She tucked her hair strand behind her ear, "Silly you. Of course not."
Raeyeon never says such words.
Their train rides were completed, back to Seoul. Even though it took them 'till dawn, they managed to survive without any complications other than the fact that Raeyeon wasn't being herself, only making Woojin uncomfortable within every second passed.
Raeyeon's huge appetite had flipped into rejecting food; her lowkey-boyish tendencies had turned into an overly done feminine play, as if she were coy; she wouldn't even avert her widened eyes off of Woojin, which used to be the other way around. Woojin felt like he had a stranger trailing behind him, in an insanely similar figure of his crush, all this time, and it made him extremely anxious.
His instincts kept telling him to turn back.
It kept yelling, ushering him to beware.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he realized where they were heading, well, more like the fact that they were heading to the wrong direction "Raeyeon, your house is the other way." he bluntly said.
Raeyeon didn't answer.
Okay for real, this was a tad bit creepy.
"Yo Rae—"
Raeyeon stopped her steps simultaneously as a shot of thunder growled. The trickling trickles of rain filled in the thin, silent atmosphere between them, but it wasn't enough to ease the humongous tense building up within every tip of their fingers.
"Park Woojin." a deeper voice grumbled from Raeyeon.
Woojin's heart fell, "What the actual fuck?"
Raeyeon turned her heels, her chocolate hair whipping and slicing through the wind, revealing a hideous fracture of a grotesque monster. Her skin were extremely pale, her lips' slit legit reaching her very elf-like ears. Her teeth turned yellow and sharp, as well as a horribly long, snake tongue slithered out of it. She was no Raeyeon alright.
She was a whole other creature.
"I'm going to kill you." it spoke.
Woojin scoffed, clenching his fist in wrath as his eyes flashed into a peak of red, "You're going to tell me where Raeyeon is first," he growled. "or else you're about to have a face way more distorted than it already is."
The monster took a head-start, twirling as it ducked to reach the vampire's stomach, but was swiftly dodged by a duplicated move as a taste of its own medicine, but with extreme strength, enough for the creature to spurted both blood and teeth off his mouth. Woojin thrust his elbow into its neck, the upper arm pulled back as a double attack when its chin heaved front. Limping backwards, the creature shook his head, reaching for a broken glass placed on the rocked ground, dashing towards Woojin, only for it to be lifted to the air as soon as Woojin nodded his head towards it with his telekinesis, crushed into miniscule shreds of glass.
It was obvious that the monster didn't have anything compared to Woojin.
Or maybe the fact that Woojin was too blinded by anger.
It was either, but he was aware that he'd never felt this strong before.
"Where is Raeyeon?" he asked, as the monster struggled on trying to find other weapons.
It cowardly threw bricks aimed at the vampire as it stepped back when Woojin stomps forward, all stopped and crushed once again, as the actions repeat. Woojin teleported right in front of the creature with no caution, taking it aback, and instantly clutching ever so tightly onto its neck. And if looks could kill, the monster would already be laying dead. But Woojin needed an answer as to where Raeyeon could be, so he held back.
"Where is she?!" he yelled.
The monster gagged, blood trickling down his lips as he licked it in pleasure, smiling almost delightfully, pissing Woojin off even more. It chuckled when Woojin glared at him, raising his brows, "Would you really kill me?"
Woojin tightened his grip, "Not a second thought."
It croaked out, "You know," it said. "within every punch, every touch you lay on this skin," it started smiling wider, "your human friend receives the exact same pain."
The red in his eyes turned blue.
And Woojin slightly loosened the grip.
"You're lying." he spat.
"I'm not," said the monster. "You know well that I was using her body. You kill me, you kill her too."
Groaning, Woojin flung its body forward as it landed with a loud bump on the ground.
Just where could she be?
The monster took advantage of Woojin's inattentiveness, grabbing the weapon it saved in its pocket for urgency: the ornately designed knife of all vampire assassins, the classic silver dagger within the initials V.A.
And there it thrust violently into Woojin's stomach.
"Ack-"
Grunting in pain, his dark, vampire blood spurted out of its humongous wound. Woojin widened his eyes, looking at the monster, then to the knife plucked into his stomach.
"You lose, vampire." it spat.
Laughing in victory, the creature's eyes gleamed, pleased at the sight of the vampire blood spreading through Woojin's clothes. Woojin rigidly stepped backwards, dropping onto his knees as he gasped for air. He couldn't die like this. No way he could.
Raeyeon must've been in danger.
So were his friends.
He wished to live.
But God had shut his prayers when his heart beats lost its rhythm.
And there his vision turned pitch black.
--
[BONUS : MIN'S GLOSSARY ]
Human Descendant
A mystical human born with a fate to destroy the malevolence of the dark creatures, and the epitome of peace; a parasite to every bit of villainy. This human is attributed with the ability to create relationships with dark creatures (such as werewolves, witches, vampires, and many more) when no other humans could create any sort of bonds with them. They are also equipped with the ability to see, hear, and speak what normal humans can't. Because of the ability, this human is able to erase all vampires' lust of blood, a werewolf's appetite on human flesh, etc. However, when not given proper training, this human may be socialized into the darker side of the world, turning the tables of its own fate. If a dark blood enters her mind, or even worse, her heart, they would be able to destroy peace, and give the dark world access to humanity.
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[a/n: sorry this chapter escalated too fast oml siofhsifhsieugfh]