(Y/N) POV:

"What is it? What's happened?" Kookie asks, arms not removing themselves from around me, holding me close as he murmurs softly. I shake my head, not now. Now is not the time.

"Don't lie, I sensed your fear and horror. It felt like everything was slipping away, it felt like the ground had been ripped away from under me, so don't for a single instance think you can say nothing." He warns, words serious and contrasting with the gentleness of his tone, the tenderness he holds me with.

"Jungkook-ah, she'll be fine. MJ hyung said he'll be here when lessons finish." Eunwoo says, attempting to be reassuring but it just makes the arms tighten with panic.

"MJ hyung? Why?" he asks, though whether it's directed to me or Eunwoo I don't know. Maybe to anyone- so he can try and get an answer, an answer to calm the waves of fear that gain power and momentum and crash through the bond.

"She couldn't keep her feed down again." Eunwoo says.

Kookie leans back, hand gently drawing my chin up, tilting my face up towards him.

"Is that it baby? Is that why you're worried? Hobi hyung said it would take time, so don't beat yourself up about it." He says, voice pushing away the feeling of failure I'd experienced.

But right now that's the least of my worries. Right now, there's something more pressing then the fact that I seem to be failing at being a vampire.

But my silence seems to speak volumes because he looks at me seriously, eyes a deep red- searching, scanning, knowing eyes that seem to penetrate those once infallible barriers, sliding past the weak defences easily and insistently staying by my side.

"We are going to talk about whatever it is. And I'm going to be there every step of the way and you are not for a single moment going to be alone." He says softly but his words leave no space for argument.

But I'm thankful he's given me the time to process it all, given me that time to think and push it all aside as we head into art- not bothering or nudging or distracting me as we work but allowing me to sink into that focused headspace- the one where the world melts away and only the canvas exists.

But today my hands have a tremor, today each stroke of paint seems wrong, seems harsh and jagged and unsure. My inner state is being reflected on the harsh ugly lines and curves of my work, in the indecisiveness of my hand's movements. 

And it's me who throws down my paint brush, hurrying away to sort away my equipment and tug off my apron- having given up on any hope of trying to get any work done today, the mess of harsh colours and lines on my canvas attested to that- a swirling ugly mix of dark shades.

Even Eunwoo's usual light teasing which would have me happily bickering and arguing with him can't seem to lift that personal thundercloud and I merely give up- handing my snack over before leaving, sensing that Kookie is right behind me without even having to turn to confirm.

A hand captures my arm, stilling me from leaving.

"(Y/N)-ah, where are you going?" Eunwoo asks.

"MJ hyung is here." He says simply, wrapping my hand in his- giving me a brief squeeze of reassurance as Kookie appears on my other side, protective and perhaps automatically flanking me, driven by instinct as they shepherd me to MJ hyung's awaiting doting arms.

The drive to their house is silent, tense and can't be broken by chatter, music nor the questions directed to me- my mind is buzzing, whirling and the bag in my lap feels like a dead weight, burdensome and heavy.

And I sit dutifully as MJ hyung checks me over, don't protest when he gently ushers the other two out- wanting to have a private chat.

"Sweetheart you know stress and worry can play into the difficulty in keeping feeds down. I know you'd been adapting well, so what's happened suddenly?" he asks, sitting beside me on the bed in the adjacent spare room they keep next to the living room.

My fingers twist the cover of the comforter between my fingers until his hands still the movement, trapping the restless limbs under his warm touch.

"I...I..." I start pathetically, words sticking in my throat, unable to dislodge past the thick weight that clogs it, piercing and stabbing- making it hurt to swallow, to try and will the fears and tears down.

"Take your time." he soothes, hand coming to cup the nape of my neck, murmuring something softly that makes that thickness abate, make it easier to breathe- throat no longer feeling heavily clogged nor sealed off.

I take a deep breath in, shuddering and deep.

"I must suck as a vampire huh?" I deadpan, letting out an emotionless laugh.

He shakes his head, a soft no murmured.

"There's no right way to be a vampire. And vampires aren't dead as you know...just changed beings. Different beings. We still have the same functions as humans, we just operate a little bit differently. Inside we're all the same except our hearts don't beat. But I know yours is hurting, aching. Medicine can't fix that though." He adds, knowingly.

And sometimes I wander whether he's not a healer but someone who can read minds, someone who with a single glance see the inner turmoil raging away between my heart and mind.

I slump, eyes squeezed shut.

"You can tell me; you know I won't share with even Eunwoo if you don't want me to." He says, giving me that reassurance and promise of privacy and confidentiality he's always given. Which is why he'd been the person I'd turned to in the past, teary and sobbing as I'd confessed that I felt like I was keeping the Ims apart by being Gyeomie's blood mate.

He'd held me and talked rationally to me, cuddled me as I wept and been my unfailing pillar of support when the Ims eventually caught on that something was bothering me, that something that made me flinch and curve away from their easy affection- thinking I was undeserving. Stood behind me and helped nudge me into telling them, confiding to them so I didn't remain burdened with the incorrect information.

And it was him I'd turned to for comfort and reassurance, for that safe space when I needed it. And here he was offering it again, offering to hide whatever I disclosed from his mate even.

"Things are just becoming a mess. And I'm learning things that I wish I hadn't stumbled on. That if I hadn't learnt them then maybe it wouldn't be true, maybe I could wipe them from my mind." I confess.

He sighs.

"We can't undo what we learn but we can try cope and live with the knowledge. And what is it, what have you learnt that you want wiped?" he asks, shifting to face me.

I hesitate.

"I...I don't want to say until it's confirmed. But it's bad oppa, really, really bad." I whisper, feeling his fingers curve protectively around my nape, squeezing gently- I melt under the touch, feel the warmth that comes from it.

"Whatever it is, whenever you want to escape- you know where I am." He murmurs.

I nod, turning to hug him.

His arms tuck me in close, make me feel small and protected and safe- lips brushing against my hairline, small kisses peppered across.

"I love you my darling. And I will always be here for you." he promises.

----

Kookie snags my arm before I can rush away, tugging me resolutely beside him and unrelenting as he looks at me- usually soft and teasing eyes now serious and worried.

"We agreed to talk remember?" he reminds, voice low enough it doesn't rouses suspicion from the others.

I nod.

"I'm just going to get Minnie." I say, gently sliding my hand free and hurrying up the stairs.

"Why?" Kookie asks as he calls after me but I'm too rushed in my haste to find him, so harried that when I burst through to his room, the knock on the door a hurried rap of knuckles- I barely feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment, especially when Joonie oppa raises his head up suddenly, arms tightening around Minnie who'd been lying flat on him, eyes burning red before they morph back to his soft brown.

"(Y/N) you're back!" he says happily, reaching a hand out towards me.

"Minnie I need you." I say, reaching forward to lace our fingers momentarily- pecking oppa's cheek before stepping back again.

I shoot him an apologetic look- knowing I've disturbed the two but they don't seem to mind, seem to pick up on the urgency in my tone, in the way I wait for Minnie to straighten his clothes- the way they'd rumpled as they cuddled, rushing forward towards me.

But his look of hurried panic melts into confusion when I take him and Kookie to the library, where I sink onto the plush carpet and clutch my bag nervously.

"You hurried for work?" Minnie asks, head cocked.

"No...not that. Well yes...but something else. It's important, and I figured its best if you know right now than later." I begin hesitantly, seeing his face school into an expression of guarded nervousness but supportive, nonetheless.

I take a deep breath, shaking hands reaching in for the top envelope.

"So I had a suspicion and I asked for some favours for our project. Try not to freak out." I warn though I feel the words are empty, meaningless. Because I slide open the envelope, draw out the booklet and put it down, the other two leaning closer to see what it is.

The first page has the victims of the recent attacks, the students who'd gone missing. And I feel the nausea well up when my eyes draw back to them, hear the hitch of breath as Kookie startles, hear the deep resonating growl from Minnie's throat- reverberations precariously hovering in the air, a response to danger, to threat.

Because they're finally seeing what I'm seeing, they're seeing the faces of the victims.

And all of them are eerily, hauntingly familiar.

Because all the female students have similar physical traits to me and the male students have similar physical traits to one of my mates, to Yoongi oppa- in the way they have dark hair, the pale skin, the similar resemblance in the eyes.

Because when I'd pulled them out, I'd been begging for my suspicion to be wrong, that the two can't be connected. But it's clear that the killer has been intentionally selecting their victims- selecting them because of a close resemblance they hold to us.

And it makes me shudder and recoil away from them, curving away as if the sight of them burns and scorch me. Because of the way the other two shift towards me, as if their bodies could shield me from the sight, protect me from the common thought we all share.

That someone out there has got their eyes on us.

And gut instinct whispers his name. In the same malicious cold voice he'd talked to me with.

Chul Kang-Dae. The one from that night. And the one who'd been Yoongi oppa's tormentor.

I squeeze my eyes shut, somehow telling the two of them had made it concretely real, unavoidable.

And the hot tears that trickle under shut eyes is because I realise that it's far from over- whatever he'd intended and that it meant that Yoongi oppa and I would have to face our biggest demon.

Sooner rather than later. Because in his cruel intent, it was causing innocent lives to be destroyed.

And there was no running or escaping from it.

JOON POV:

When I'd shared with Jin hyung how worried (Y/N) had been when she'd returned, seeking out Jiminie with an urgency- it seemed to have triggered an automatic shift in him. A flick of a swich as he went from relaxed and calm and laughing as he watched Hobi and Yoongi hyung cook and Tae steal the ingredients to coiled up and tense, standing abruptly. He shoots the two a meaningful look before he hurries past me to go check on her- his reaction causing me to anxiously follow.

But I don't think either of us were prepared to finally locate her in the library, shaking and sobbing as Jiminie and Kookie flank her either side, arms protectively curved around her- heads bent as they just hold her. Kookie's head shoots up- revealing burning crimson eyes that shine with just protectiveness, and it takes several long moments for them to dim- to recognise us as mates and not threats, the deep growling sound that had rumbled out his chest, quietening.

I shoot Jin hyung a worried look but his eyes are attentively fixed onto the three of them, he takes a careful step forward- freezing when a choked sob rips out of (Y/N)'s throat, the sound stilling him in his tracks.

"Sweetheart..." I whisper, yearning to get to her.

Jiminie's head whips around, face distraught and hurting and worried. 

This isn't something light or easily resolved. This is something so deep, that it's shaken the three of them and the two of us are yet to even catch a glimpse of (Y/N)'s curved, hidden form from between the two of them.

"Bun what's wrong?" I ask, slowly edging closer. Maybe he can tell us, give us some insight. But when I reach close enough, my eyes stray from them to a pile of paper aside on the carpet, almost as if it had been discarded but when I lean to pick them up- I feel the blood inside me chill and freeze, veins turning to ice.

I'm not daring to believe what's in front of my eyes, don't want to believe it.

"What's this?" I ask, voice a whisper.

Silence.

"What is this? Can someone please explain to me why these people, who happen to be dead right now, look similar to Yoongi hyung and (Y/N)?" I ask, voice becoming slightly hysterical and raised.

Jin hyung's head whips to the side, alarm on his usually calm face.

He rushes forward to take the papers from my slack grip, lips tightening and eyes becoming a glaring red.

The papers scrunch slightly under his touch, under the tight grip he has over them and yet the way he turns to the three is painstakingly careful and tender.

"My loves, can one of you please explain? Before I feel like I'll lose my mind with worry." He asks softly.

Jiminie shifts towards him slightly, a broken 'hyung' slipping past his lips- hand raised imploringly to him. Jin hyung immediately grasps it, kneels next to him.

"Hyung someone wants to hurt (Y/N) and Yoongi hyung. (Y/N) got them for our project but...but why do they look similar? Why do they have to be in danger?" he says, voice trembling.

The air is thick with worry and tension, it overwhelms the bond so intensely- must unconsciously transmit as a distress signal because soon the other three are rushing in, eyes panicked as they cluster close.

There's no words- the three of them picking up that right now actions are needed more than words, especially in the way their eyes fall to the five of us curled close.

And then Jin hyung speaks, low and dangerous and an icy calm- a tone that promises endless pain and hurt and suffering.

"Chul. It's him isn't it?" he says.

Yoongi hyung's face expresses alarm, a glance at the papers informing the three of them on the faint gist of things.

"He just won't leave. He's intent on destroying me completely isn't he?" Yoongi hyung says, resigned and pained and angry.

(Y/N)'s head rises, eyes lined with red and tears coursing silently down her cheeks, her hand reaching out for him, trembling fingers that intertwine with his.

"He can't take you away, he can't take another life away, ruin yours even more." She mumbles, her hurt making our souls ache with our failure to reassure, to soothe.

Because now life seems uncertain, now tomorrow comes with the promise of gloom and rain, now we know Chul's intention it makes my blood seethe and boil.

Because he destroyed the lives of two of ours. And because now...suddenly eternity seems too short to make him pay for it.

And no amount of words or silent shows of care and affection can help return what the two have lost because of him- and that thought hurts and stings more than anything else.

(SEATBELTS BACK ON LOVELIES- THE WARNING SIGN IS BACK ON- YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD. WE ARE VEERING INTO ANGSTY TERRITORY SO BELTS ON- YES IT WAS CHUL! HE DOESN'T GET MUCH MENTIONS BY NAME- COS HE DOESN'T DESERVE THAT TBH! NOT IN THIS HOUSHEOLD DOES HE GET THAT IMPORTANCE. LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS- DOES IT READ WEIRD- BE HONEST AND LET ME KNOW MY LOVES! I'D HATE TO BE PUBLISHING BADLY WRITTEN CHAPTERS, I HOPE THE EMOTION CAME ACROSS AS STRONGLY AS I HOPED!! THOUGH IF THAT'S NOT THE CASE, DON'T HESITATE TO TELL ME. SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE- THIS WAS WRITTEN JUGGLED BETWEEN TWO UNI SESSIONS, A VISIT TO MY AUNT AND TUTORING SO SORRY!! TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE- LET ME KNOW WHETHER YOU EXPECTED THAT TWIST; THAT THE VICTIMS MATCHED THEM PHYSICALLY! TAKE CARE!)

When it rains sometimes we have an umbrella to shield us, sometimes a hood- but on days we don't, that downpour may drench us but it can also open our eyes to experiences we'd shielded ourselves from.

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3