Are You There - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Changkyun paces around the entirety of his apartment building, the cold air around him moving to grace his skin every passing second.
"Do you think you'll ever stop this foolishness?" Hyungwon, sat at the base of a tree, watches Changkyun pass him by every two minutes, the silver-haired man growing increasingly bored with the sight. "You'll grow sick of it eventually."
Changkyun does two more laps before stopping in front of his Master, glaring at the long-legged man. "How do you know the guy you texted can fix things? What is he even going around fixing in the first place? Is he giving blood to Hoseok or-"
"He's erasing your friend's memories, I'm sure." Hyungwon, thinking back to the woman he has kept locked in his bunker for nearly four years, smirks to himself. "My dear Minhyuk knows what to do to see things through, don't worry your little head."
Changkyun only groans, no trust to spare for the man sat before him. It is not easy for him to believe the man that killed him for what seems like the fun of it. It is just that much more difficult for him to believe the man that threw a close friend at him just to see what would happen.
"Listen, dude-" Changkyun pauses at the violent glare he earns, correcting himself with a frown. "Hyungwon. I'm sure you have your own agenda, but I'm still trying to figure out how the hell I fit into it. So if you're cool with enlightening me..."
Changkyun holds his hands out at his sides, his weight shifting between his feet in an awkward silence. He forces his eyes to hold Hyungwon's, though he is sure this can only do him more harm than good.
"Young one, your priorities seem to be quite spread out." Hyungwon's hand lifts to arc through the air, encompassing all of Changkyun's issues of the night. "You should choose one and ask graciously. You ought to take our growth one step at a time."
Changkyun sighs, shuffling forward to sit before Hyungwon. A gust of wind pushes against his side, and he lilts toward his master to fight the air that threatens to shove him down. Hyungwon, seizing his opportunity, places his hand on the back of Changkyun's head. Changkyun flinches at the sudden contact, but freezes when Hyungwon speaks.
"I accept this as your official bow to your Master, and your vow to follow me-"
Changkyun yelps, scuttling out from beneath Hyungwon's hand in a hurry. Hyungwon doesn't let the boy flee, finishing the pledge before he loses his chance. "-under any command and control. You are now mine."
Changkyun gasps, his eyes fixed on the pavement beneath his hung head, his shoulders lifting and falling with each heavy breath he tugs between his gaping lips. There is no defining sensation of being Claimed, not one that he can describe. There is only a sudden understanding in his mind; he is no longer in control.
"What the hell was that?" He asks through clenched teeth, forcing himself away from Hyungwon's grasp.
"Technically, until you've been Claimed under a Master, you're a rogue."
Changkyun groans, his mind only flooding with even more questions. Shaking his head, he backtracks to what he was originally going to ask. "Even though you're really making this shit harder for me, I'm still demanding an answer on why in the blasted hell are you doing it to me?"
Hyungwon considers his answer, his expression nearly blank as he regards Changkyun carefully. "Is that truly what you'd like to know?" At Changkyun's firm nod, Hyungwon takes one long inhale. His lungs are old, several centuries of breathing the slowly dying air of this country and others, but it is still a habit to take in the oxygen he no longer needs.
"It will take quite a long time to tell you my reasons behind choosing you."
Changkyun scoffs, glancing around the empty night streets. "If you can't tell, it's the middle of the night, and we've got nothing but time. So..." The tanned boy knows he is running on the edge of a cliff by using this tone with Hyungwon, but the older man merely flicks his wrist to dismiss his attitude.
"Then I suppose you should learn to keep that mouth sewn shut, because I will not be pausing nor repeating myself."
Changkyun nods quietly, eager to understand at least one thing after going this long with nothing but questions. He settles in his place, watching his Master closely under the dim light of the waning moon.
"I am one of the last of my kind," Hyungwon begins slowly, his eyes half-lidded as his heart falls at the truth. "Over three hundred years ago-"
Changkyun's mouth parts to wonder aloud how a story about him could begin centuries ago, but he snaps his lips together at one look from Hyungwon.
"-I was born to my mother and father in London." Hyungwon's lips nearly quirk into a smile at the thought of his parents, two beautiful beings with never-ending smiles. "My mother was of my blood, while my father was human. They had fled to England to hide from laws that forbid me from ever existing.
"Though they hid, I could not be raised as a normal child." Hyungwon frowns now, staring down at his hands. This is the most vulnerable he has appeared before another soul in several decades, and he hates that it is his own disciple that gets to see him this way.
"My father died in war when I was just seven, our country requiring every man to fight the Spanish Monarchy in the eighteenth century. With him but a memory, my mother decided that we only could travel to her homeland. Back then, this Korea was nothing of what it is today. All surrounding lands invaded and took control of us then.
"My mother and I attempted to blend in to the environment and change when necessary, but eventually those around us began discovering that she had not aged beyond thirty in quite some time, and I had stopped my own growth as I am now." Hyungwon gestures down to himself, and Changkyun nods in understanding.
If he had the chance to skip this impromptu history lesson, Changkyun would take it. Of course he had already learned most of the country's history throughout his schooling, and nothing bores him more than speaking on something he already knows about.
"My mother was hunted ruthlessly by those who govern our race, and later murdered for breaking the laws and creating me." Changkyun is still lost on how this has any to do with him, but he listens attentively. "I've now lived without my mother for ninety-three years, and I am being hunted every day for existing.
"I've attempted to make several disciples before you, unfortunately losing them for different reasons." Changkyun straightens up in his place, sensing that the end of this overdrawn story is finally arriving. "It is not illegal to turn a human into a vampire. But it is illegal to create a half-blooded vampire, as I am. In this world, there remain perhaps but one dozen of us birthed from parents."
Hyungwon rolls up the sleeve to his shirt, revealing the risen veins on his arm, his deadly blood flowing freely through his body. "My blood, half vampire, and half human, is different from a full blooded vampire. When I create one of my own kind, they are just as mortal as I." Hyungwon points a long finger at Changkyun's chest, the point now hanging in the air.
"You are not a full blooded anything anymore. Once human, you are now a half-blood. You unfortunately live and breathe life as a mortal, but your life force has changed, and your age has frozen in place." Hyungwon drops his hand, his eyes drifting into the open air beside Changkyun. "I had several reasons for choosing you, young one. The most prominent being that my race is dying, and I need someone to follow me."
Changkyun's eyes close as his head falls into his hand, his hopes utterly destroyed. "You've killed me," he reiterates into his palm.
"In a sense, if I hadn't, perhaps someone else would have."
Changkyun peeks up at his master, feeling pure disgust crawl down his spine at the sight. "Being born wasn't your fault," he says slowly, "and you shouldn't die for that. But I won't defend you if someone comes to kill you for doing this to me."
Hyungwon only nods, understanding Changkyun's anger. "I hope that someday soon you'll change your mind, because I won't be the only one to die when that day comes."
[ x ]
Hoseok wakes up in his own home, dark memories distorting his vision for a long moment before the face hovering above his comes into view. He shrieks, his arms flailing up to ward off the thin man he assumes is an intruder.
Minhyuk, with more energy than he can truly spare, forces Hoseok's arms down against his pillows, practically sat atop him to keep him still. "Mr. Shin," he mutters around bated breaths. "I'm a nurse, please calm down."
Hoseok cannot calm down. A man has his leg flung across his middle and is using all his strength to keep him pinned to the bed. No realm of the word calm can be applied to Hoseok in this moment. He struggles beneath Minhyuk, though his sluggish movements are not what he expects. Hoseok is a strong man, broad and fit from years of physical training, yet he cannot budge the lithe man above him. "Get off me!" He nearly shouts, his teeth gritted as his cheeks go pink with the effort.
Minhyuk sighs, realizing that Hoseok will not be able to attack him if he does release the man. Sliding off the large bed, Minhyuk lands on the carpeted floor almost silently, his hands letting go of Hoseok's wrists and leaving behind red prints. "I'm a nurse," he repeats carefully, watching as Hoseok's eyes dart to his bedside.
Minhyuk was smart enough to check the bed's surroundings when he dragged Hoseok into the room, knowing there would surely be a weapon hidden somewhere. The knife he had found in the bedside now sits in Minhyuk's coat pocket across the room. He has done this enough times to know how to protect himself. Or the person he thinks he needs protecting from.
"What the hell are you doing in my home?" Hoseok attempts to push himself up into a sitting position, but his hands slip harshly across his sheets and send him landing back against his pillows.
"I'm here for your friend, Jooheon. You fainted on the street today, and he blacked out after calling me." Minhyuk bites at the inside of his cheek, the lie rather minor compared to others he has told, but still sour.
Hoseok's eyes narrow at that, the story sounding fabricated even to him. "Then why aren't we in the hospital?"
Changkyun.
A flash of a memory from earlier in the night strikes Hoseok where he lies, several sensations hitting him all at once. The air is knocked from his lungs as the image of Changkyun hovering over him suddenly claws at his mind's eye. He can distinctly remember the initial pain of something striking him at every nerve. He can even remember the sudden flood of warmth that took over his entire body only moments later. He wonders how now, after something that euphoric, he feels so emotionally and physically drained.
Perhaps I did call a nurse, he thinks to himself as he glances back towards Minhyuk. In the yellow light of his room, Minhyuk looks ghastly, and far more threatening than Changkyun had hours before. The man lying still in his bed can sense that there is something off about the nurse, something almost sinister, but he cannot put his finger atop it quite yet. Despite this, Hoseok puts his doubts aside for the moment to question the man while he has him here.
"What happened to me?"
Hoseok has the feeling that he does not need to explain anything to this man. Something about the way the nurse's eyes waver not even a moment tells Hoseok that he knows everything. He knows just what has happened and why. "It is not my place to tell you," Minhyuk says instead. "And it is not your place to ask me." Minhyuk fiddles with something in his thin hands, and Hoseok eyes it until Minhyuk holds it out to him. "It's tea."
A mug jumps from the darkness, Minhyuk's fingers cradling it carefully as he waits for Hoseok to take it himself. Hoseok only shakes his head, still not completely trusting in this mysterious man. "How did you get into my home."
Minhyuk sighs, setting the mug down to fish a ring of keys from his back pocket. "You gave me your keys. You've already woken up several times, and this is the fifth time I've explained to you how I got you in here."
Minhyuk drops the keys unceremoniously onto the mattress beside Hoseok, the metal clanging against itself noisily. This is one of the few truths Minhyuk has graced the air with in the last few days. He is far better at speaking honestly, but the consequences for him are often more severe when the truth comes to light.
"Why did I faint?" Hoseok asks this time, his eyes glancing warily towards the mug of steaming tea beside him. He can smell it now, all winter pine and herbs. He doesn't like the burn it leaves in his nose, or the familiarity of the scents. Hoseok knows exactly where that tea has come from, and who crafted it.
"Blood loss," Minhyuk admits before he can think. He clenches his fists at his sides, his mind feeling fuzzy as Hoseok holds his gaze. The broad man's eyes are entirely too beautiful and distracting.
"And Jooheon?"
Minhyuk opens his mouth, almost uttering the truth about his actions, but he clamps his lips together before he can say a word. He almost whimpers as he turns away from Hoseok, his mind going hazy. He truly is weak now, having exhausted all his energy into wiping Jooheon's mind of the last day and a half. He cannot even control what he says any longer.
"He had a panic attack," Minhyuk blurts, trying desperately to lie himself out of this house. He feels faint, his vision blurring in and out of focus as he stumbles towards a chair across the room. Hoseok, still stuck beneath his blankets in bed, watches the man's actions curiously.
The broad man reaches out for the mug of tea beside him, recognizing the brew his own father had created years ago for healing. A bit spills over the lip of the mug onto his fingers, his hand shaking furiously as he tries to hold the weight of it up. It burns his skin, and he hisses in pain before he can get a sip of it past his lips.
He gags at the bitter taste of the tonic Minhyuk has made, meant to replenish his energy and heal what his body cannot do for itself. Hoseok downs it anyhow, groaning as the tea burns his throat and sits heavy in his chest. The mug hits the bedside again with a sharp sound of glass against wood, jolting Minhyuk in his place.
The effects are nearly instant, waking his mind to the fullest, though his body still needs far longer to regain its usual abilities. Hoseok eyes Minhyuk as he drops his head into his thin hand, the nurse now pushed to a near breaking point of exhaustion.
"You must truly be weak," Hoseok begins slowly, waving a dismissive hand towards the nurse, "if you cannot even recognize your own kind."
oooooooooh i made hoseok a fuckin faerie-