YOONGI POV:

I feel bile rise in my throat at the agonising scream that tears through the alley, that shatters the early afternoon sky and is so full of pain, of grief, of every lament and untold story of suffering. Of every tremble in the breath, of every unleashed torrent of feelings in the sound.

It grates on my ears. It threatens to make them bleed

I never want to hear such a sound again.

And after today I never intend to. Not for an eternity.

(Y/N) POV:

The scream is raw agonising and full of each and every lament and unexpressed moment of suffering, its never-ending and excruciating and makes me shudder.

I look at Chul who's face is distorted with the pain, who's eyes have turned into a bright vermillion and he shrieks, mouth open wide and fingers involuntarily tightening on my throat as a way of trying to keeping himself stable, fingers trembling and spasming randomly from their vice around my neck and slowly the pain gets too much and his fingers slip free of my throat.

He falls to the ground, body falling in on himself and I watch with a feeling of emptiness, with a feeling of detachment almost as I watch him clutch at his hair, tugging viciously and continuing to scream, the sound becoming hoarse and torn and raw.

Behind him stand Yoongi oppa, Jinnie oppa and Minnie. All of them looking down with hardened expressions at the man on the ground, no...at the thing. At the writhing figure of him, tears rolling down his cheeks, eyes unseeing and blank- consumed with the feeling.

I know exactly what he's feeling. Know that what he's feeling is only the agony Yoongi oppa experienced all that time with him and he and Minnie are compelling him to feel it, that Minnie's flinty eyes are boring into him and making that stream of emotions wound around his heart and squeeze. Relentless and vicious.

If the pain is that extreme and this is only Yoongi oppa's pain, I wonder how he'll feel when he experiences every shred of pain inflicted back at him, pain he made others endure, pain I had to endure.

I have no shred of humane empathy for Chul. He ceased being a person in my eyes when he decided to tear my parents open, when he drank a doctor dry because I wasn't given to him, when he ruined my life all those years ago and when I learnt that he'd ruined Yoongi oppa's too.

I meet Jinnie oppa's eyes- hardened chips of red ice that thaw and morph into brown as he looks at me.

"Are you okay?" he asks, already hurrying around Chul's curved figure to get to me, tugging me into his arms.

"Yeah..." I say and then wince at the hoarseness of my voice, at how much it pained me to say that one word, throat flaring in pain.

He frowns, eyes darkening as they drop to the state of my throat, at the state Chul's made it into.

He turns and bends to face Chul's kneeling figure.

"Stop." He says, one word full of authority and command and disgust.

Minnie and Yoongi oppa pause though not without expressions of disgust and hate directed towards Chul.

And what I didn't expect is for my sweet, caring tender eldest mate to fist the collar of Chul's top and stand up with one fluid movement , slamming him into the bricks behind with enough force that a loud sickening crack echoes through the alleyway, his figure slumping and a groan slipping past- hoarse and gruff, a crack spreading out across the bricks.

And there's none of that gentle compassionate mate as his eyes bleed venom, glaring at Chul, body pinned into the wall.

"You dared once with Yoongi, you dared twice with (Y/N)...just how much patience and endurance did you think I had before I came for your sorry self?" he sneers, voice low and threatening and bristling with rage, barely held back anger.

Chul doesn't respond, I don't think he physically can. But that doesn't appease Jinnie oppa, not when he's so wound up and fuming with hate.

"Answer me you sick bastard. Answer why you thought it was okay to touch not what's yours, but what are mine. What always have and what always be mine. How dare you lay even a filthy finger on them?" he demands, the cracks widening as he pushes him further into the brick wall, other hand going to grip his face and stare at him.

And that's when I see it, the tiniest slither of fear. Not at what he's done. But maybe because he realises how precariously his existence hangs on an already fraying thread.

"Not...Didn't..." Chul wheezes.

And when he seems to be able to get the words out, the look on his face is resolute and unchanged.

The sight of it alone to make me feel sick to my stomach and I find Yoongi oppa tugging me back, protectively trying to shield me from between him and Minnie.

"Didn't touch yours. Yoongi's always been mine. And as for her...I'll drain her dry if it's the last thing I do." He snarls, voice croaky but determination still there.

And there's a sickening thud when Chul's face goes slamming into the brick wall, head whipped to the side. And it wasn't Jinnie oppa who did that.

No...it's Hobi oppa.

Who's just appeared, a storm of movements as he entered the alley and caught his words and is glaring vehemently at Chul.

Blood bubbles past his lips and still he grins, teeth stained red.

"What? Jealous I got to smell her first, got to taste her?" he goads, laughing and wheezing.

I can't understand what's wrong with him, what on earth has made him this way. And what foolish blind courage makes him say that, with the street filling with my mates.

And there's two people who exit from a hidden nook in the side of the alleyway. Two tight faced vampires.

Gyeomie and Kook. Both bristling with anger and joining the fray, a protective huddle growing around me, barely held back from their urges to get to Chul.

And Gyeomie tugs me to his side to peer down at me.

"Are you okay?" he asks, fingers carefully brushing against my throat, lips tightening when the slightest pressure makes me wince.

I nod.

"Your defence shield stopped the hypnosis. The hardest thing was pretending." I confess, voice grating against my own hearing. 

There's several pair of eyes that darken and burn red at the ruined state of my throat, voice failing me and making my fingers hover protectively over it, trying to shield it. Especially when Chul looks over Hobi oppa's shoulder to grin, lips stained red- and not the first time.

How many times had those lips been stained red over centuries? How many people? I wonder if I had even been the latest one, or whether he'd attacked someone else too?

It had required a lot of strength from each and every person involved in the plan to set up something like this. To make it seem like we didn't know Chul was going to seize the first opportunity. Especially when Jinnie oppa had confessed over breakfast that he had a bad feeling about the art store.

It was all a matter of putting it into place.

"Minnie, take the pain away please." I murmur, reaching over to grasp his hand gently.

He looks at me with shock lining each feature.

"You want me to take his pain away?" he asks, incredulous.

I nod, disentangling myself from Gyeomie's hold and Minnie's hand which tightens in panic, pupils dilating.

And step out from behind the protective huddle.

"(Y/N)...what are you...?" Kookie asks, voice raw and distraught as he tries to reach for me.

I sidestep past him, not looking at him. Because if I look I'll fall weak and right now I need to be strong. But his wavering, shuddering breaths echo in my ears.

Chul follows my movements, eyes lazily following me and lighting up with sadistic pleasure when his eyes fall to my throat.

I tug Hobi oppa back, ignoring the confused and startled sound and worried murmur of my name.

And step forward to face my demon.

I tug back Jinnie oppa's hand.

"Leave him." I say.

From the corner of my eyes I note that Joonie oppa and Jinnie oppa turn to shoot me confused and worried looks. Beyond understanding why I'd ask that from them.

"Why...(Y/N) he..." Yoongi oppa starts harshly, voice thick with pain.

I shake my head.

"Let him go..." I say, and when the hand limply falls to the side, my own hand goes to Chul's throat, light and barely wrapping around the thickness of his throat.

But then my fingers tighten, digging in just as his had to mine.

"He's my prey." I reply, voice forcefully blank, trying to let the emotions drain away from me.

I don't recognise the reflection of me I see in his red eyes. Nor do I look and feel anything as he stares back at me. Unbothered. Unaffected.

As my fingers tighten, the strength behind them making him choke I speak.

"Did you ever wonder how it felt to be them? How the families felt after you tore them apart?" I ask.

But I don't particularly care for his answer. Don't care for him.

It's more so the horrible gurgling sound gets blocked out from my ears.

He's silent. Though I know it'll take far more than my fingers to tear him apart, that I don't yet know how to use my strength properly.

I wonder how much of the choked sounds he lets out are for show.

When the others did that, he'd barely made a sound.

He doesn't look at me.

His eyes drift to Yoongi.

"You going to let her do that to me?" he asks, voice fairly normal, only slightly strained, clearly awaiting for Yoongi oppa to sweep in and rescue him.

I laugh.

But it's empty. Scarily blank to my own ears.

"Why would he stop me? He's my mate." I say, watching as the realisation strikes his face, but disbelief makes him push it aside, staring at me with revulsion.

"You're not." He says just as Yoongi oppa steps up behind me at the same time, hand a solid presence on my back.

"She's not is she?" he asks Yoongi oppa desperately.

Because even know Chul tries to play games. Even as the truth hits him.

He struggles, trying to escape my fingers and Jinnie oppa's hand pinning him to the wall.

"She can't be...you promised me forever. You loved me, you loved being mine. What changed?" he asks, my fingers loosening slightly.

The voice that replies is barely holding back, full of pain.

"Because my life wasn't yours to play with, because I found my mate. Because I deserved better." Yoongi oppa hisses.

I lean back slightly into the hand, trying to give him reassurance too.

Chul's eyes turn to me, burning with hate. But what's new?

"You..." he hisses.

I tilt my head back, knowing exactly what sort of gesture it is.

And then my other hand comes up to press at my throat, touching the largest claiming mark on my throat.

"Yoongi oppa did this to me. Pretty isn't it?" I say, head falling to meet his eyes, fingers wrapping tight again just as he howls at the injustice.

"I'll tear you apart." He promises, voice wheezing.

"Not if I tear you apart first." I reply and just then there's a small flapping sound and a small bat swoops in, flapping in Chul's face and there's a small yelp before the bat moves back, going towards our mates. Velvety wings brushing pass me in a sweet, silent caress before it goes.

Tae. And the pinpricks at Chul's throat lets me know that the job is done. That this is all we need to deal with today. 

"In about a minute, the venom will make it's way through your body. It won't kill you but it should do the trick. It'll paralyse you." Hobi oppa remarks, looking disinterested and detached at the marks on Chul's throat, at the two tiny spots of blood.

And when my fingers fall back, it's knowing he won't attack, he can't. 

Sixty seconds.

Of silence.

Of no remorse or compassion for Chul who's body stiffens and falls to the ground and his eyes remain roving, painfully aware.

"Don't worry Chul...." Yoongi oppa coos, stooping down.

I see Chul's eyes alight with hope at the fake sweetness in his tone, not knowing that poison can be saccharine sweet too at times. It's just disguised well.

"We'll have lots of fun playing with you as well." He finishes, before his face transforms into a look of hardened carved ice, blank and void. And he steps back up.

And as the Ims fill the alley, gently nudging me back as JB oppa says they'll take care of it, the strength leaves me, the feigned calm and the feigned detachment and coldness dissipates and I find my knees shaking as I move back, trying to move away as quickly as possible from the monster Chul is.

A pair of arms come to support me, holding me safely and securely against a warm chest.

"I've got you." Joonie oppa promises. And I turn desperately to hide away from the sight of Chul, burrowing my head into his chest and trembling.

Because whilst we've finally done it.

Whilst we've finally caught him, it makes me feel sick that he's still here. That he's every much still there. Unmoving but very present.

And I can't stand the sight of him any longer, the weight of my plan crushing my shoulders and making me crumble under it's burden.

Every moment since I'd stepped outside had had me filled with panic and distress and fear...that one wrong step and it could all go wrong. One miscalculation or timing issue and it would crumble away.

I could've very well lost my life too. But I was infinitely thankful that I hadn't.

That by a miracle it had worked.

The ridiculous, stupid, and risky plan had worked.

And from this moment onwards it was about moving past this.

Something I couldn't wait to do.

(RIGHT SO...DON'T KILL ME. BUT CAN I JUST SAY HOW PLEASED I AM? THAT EVERYONE WAS READY TO WEEP AND CRY AND FUME...BUT I'M NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT. I'M HAPPY THAT I GOT AWAY WITH MY TRICKS AND MANAGED TO THROW YOU ALL IN FOR A LOOP! THIS WAS ALL PART OF THE PLAN, WHICH WILL BE REVEALED LATER. BIT BY BIT COS I LOVE TEASING. BUT LEMME JUST SAY I WANTED TO SCREAM AND I WAS SO GIDDY THAT EVERYONE WAS SO CAUGHT UP IN EMOTION, NO-ONE REALISED THAT THE PLAN HAD ALREADY STARTED!! AND I PROMISE...THERE'S A REASON CHUL ISNT DEAD...HE'S GOT TO PAY. AND I HOPE YOU CAN SEE THAT FOR (Y/N) IT'S HARD TRYING TO BE COLD BECAUSE OBVIOUSY SHE'S A BETTER HUMAN AND PERSON THAN CHUL BUT SHE WILL GET HER REVENGE! I HOPE IT WAS INTERESTING AND SURPRISING FOR YOU ALL TO READ...I WAS SO SO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER!! AND FINALLY MAKE IT BE KNOWN THAT EVERY STEP WAS INTENTIONAL...THAT EVERY POV WAS THERE FOR A REASON AND I HOPE YOU ARE ALL READY TO HOPEFULLY BE MINDBLOWN NEXT CHAPTER WITH THE UNWINDING OF IT!! LET ME KNOW AND STAY SAFE!!)

Sometimes life throws you in for loops that make you dizzy. But the best thing to do is try and recover and move on.

So so happy!! Ahhhh! 🥰🥰

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3