Hey frens 🥲 Sorry for delay! It's finals season and I deleted basically all my socials to focus. I'm a STEM major and just had a lot on my plate so I needed to take a break from everything for a bit. I have one last exam on Wednesday tho (thank god 😭). But I didn't wanna wait till then to update so here it is! I've just been working on this chapter a little bit every day for the past week. Once my exam is finished though I'll have more free time and everything will go back to normal 🕺🏾
Enough rambling 👹

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This place hasn't changed a bit... San thinks to himself as he arrives at Asa's courtyard. The witch doctor had animal bones and skulls hanging from ropes and tied to tree branches around her hut. Different herbs and plants growing to the side. The air smelled crisp. Like freshly burned wood.

He looks back at the guard that escorted him there and flashed a tight lipped smile before he ducks and pulls back the drapes over the entrance of her hut then enters. The room was dimly lit with candles and had different tribal tapestries hung all over the walls.

"Asa?" He mutters once he spots the old woman crouched over, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, and grinding up something with a wooden mortar and pestle. She immediately stops the second she hears his voice.

She then puts down the pestle and stands up with little effort. Despite how old she is she was extremely agile. Her white curly hair scattered and messy as it hung low at her lower back. And when San meets her white eyes, completely lacking of any pupils or irises, he bows deeply in respect, falling to his knees and pressung his forehead against the ground as is expected from drows when greeting elders.

She breathes deeply. "Rise" She says in a raspy voice. Though she was physically blind that didn't mean she could see. San stands up warily, still going through all the different reasons why she could've asked to see him "Come sit" She urges for him to sit with her as she made her way towards a small, low, round table.

She sits on the ground, legs crossed and San does the same. A silence settles. "Asa, why have you requested to see me?" San speaks, the quiet eating him up.

"So the spell was lifted when you were killed" She mutters to herself outloud and San's brows furrow.

"I'm sorry?" He squints at her, not quite sure he heard her right.

"Have you never wondered how and why you became part vampire?" She asks. San shrugs.

"Yeah, like everyday for the past 4 years. I figured maybe it had something to do with Wooyoung"

She shakes her head, the coral beads in her hair shaking and rattling against each other in the process. "No. You were born part vampire, San"

San shivers as her words rang in his head and over. "W-what are you talking about?" She chuckles uncomfortably.

"Your mother was a drow, your father was a vampire-"

"That's impossible" San cuts her off. "My mother moved from her village to this one when my father died due to an illness shortly after I was born" He regurgitated what his mother told him. What he'd known and believed his whole life.

She sighs again. "There's a lot of things you don't know about Dana. She was a... very secretive woman. As a matter of fact very few people in this village knew who she really was"

San felt his bottom lip quiver. His teeth grits and his stomach clenches. But he stays quiet, mainly due to the fact that his voice was stuck in his throat.

"As you already know, she is not from this village. But the fact of the matter is she doesn't know for sure what part of Lloth she's from either. She'd been traded in the slave market since she could walk. Hopping from household to household. City to city. Exploited, abused and raped. By age 17 she'd been through hell" San felt his eyes sting and chills of horror crawl over her skin. "Eventually she was bought over by a foreign queen. She was a slave to a vampire royal family in a far away land called America. Then she fell in love with the prince. But he didn't love her the she did him. But he did care about her. They slept together and he impregnated her" Asa pauses for a moment and San just watches her, waiting for her to continue.

"When the prince found out she was carrying his child he urged her to kill it but she would not. He knew that if word got out that a mere slave was carrying the prince's child she would be hung up and burned alive for belief of being a witch and enchanting the prince. So he helped her flee the country.

She sailed across the oceans and came back to Asia where she lived on the road for months, working for petty change just to survive. Eventually she returned to Lloth, pregnant and due at any second. She came here, to this very village, wanting a fresh start. She wanted her child to be born in Lloth. A place where they could call home. Something she never had

And we welcomed her. As a I said, she was a very secretive woman. She didn't tell anyone much about her past or even who the father was. We didn't turn her away. We couldn't." The woman shakes her head, her hair beads clicking against each other. "She was still a drow, one of us, and we always help out our own. We helped her get ready for the delivery. It was long and exhausting but eventually... you were born-"

San felt chills run down his back and goosebumps form on his arms.

"Push Dana! A little more!" A woman encourages when she spots the dark head of an infant forcing its way past the walls of her vagina.

Dana screams in pain, breathing harshly and whimpering. Around her eyes wet with tears and lips cracked as more groans of agony made it's way past them. A different female drow stood at either side of her, holding her hand and encouraging her further. "I can't I cant-" Dana cries out in pain.

"Get me fresh towels" The head nurse who was positioned between Ymir's legs instructs one of the other women and she runs off the get towels. "Come on, do not give up. Keep pushing!"

Dana long white hair was a scattered disheveled mess on the pillow and her skin had a layer of sweat and more beading on her forehead as she took in a shaky breath and began pushing with every strength in her.

Minutes later and the cries of a baby rings in the delivery hut and a few of the women cheer, one even clapping in congratulations. "It's a boy."

Dana weakly smiles as she watches the head nurse cradle the baby in a white cloth. Though her smile drops when she sees the look of horror on the nurse's face as she stared at the baby.

"W-what is it?" Dana croaks out in a raspy voice, her heart beating quickly with worry. "I want to see him" She attempts to sit up but winces when a burst of pain shoots up her pelvis.

The other nurses peak at the baby and gasp. Because the new born had dark veins around his eyes and when his eyes slides open the whites of his eyes were red. Like a vampire. "A demon. The child is a vampire" A different nurse says in an accusatory voice.

Dana's heart drops. She shakes her head repeatedly. "I c-can explain" Her throat felt dry. Scratchy.

"Someone should inform the chief"

"We must kill it"

"No! No you mustn't!" Dana cries out. "He's not of any harm. Please-" She pleads.

"A drow giving birth to a child part vampire? It was an abomination by drowic culture. And you were almost killed because of everyone's fear" Asa continues.

"Then she came to me, begging to do something to save her son. That's how I was able to create a complicated spell in which your vampire side was repressed. Your black hair turned white and you no longer needed blood for sustainance.

The chief never found out. And the few women that knew agreed to be quiet about it. One tried to spread the rumor because she believed whether that side of you was repressed or not, you were still a vampire. But no one would believe her. As far as anyone could see, you were a drow-

And so you grew up like every other boy. Happy, healthy. You played and learned and made friends" She smiles softly. "You ate food as normal as can be. And got hurt with no supernatural healing on the playground. Just like the other children.

She made me promise to never tell you what you really were. But... it's far too late for that now. Your death must have released the spell" Her voice was glum.

By the time she was done and silence settles in the room again San felt tears slide down his cheeks slowly. One after another. Everything he thought he knew, about himself, about his own mother. It was all a lie.

He'd gone most of his life hating vampires, despising them and wanting them all dead, not knowing that he was one himself. He was frozen with shock.

"How do I trust that whatever you're saying is true" His voice was raspy and clamps his jaw shut.

"I have no reason to lie to you" She shakes her head. "We've done enough of that your whole life. For once you deserve the truth"

"And what about my... father?" He speaks again after a few long seconds of silence.

"Dana kept his identity a secret. That was the one thing she swore she'd take to her grave. Because she knew that kind of information could put your life at risk if the wrong person. So she never told anyone anything about him. Not even his name. But long before she died she gave me this ring" Asa reaches for the small box on the table and slowly takes out a simple gold band. "It belonged to him. He gave it to her and she said to give it to you when the time felt right." She stretches her hand out, urging San to open his palm and collect the small ring.

It was cold. He could tell it was real gold because despite how long it probably was there wasn't any rust in sight. It was simple but had some sort of emblem or crest engraved on the shiny surface of the gold ring. Other than the crest there wasn't anything else. No names. No writings. Nothing.

He wasn't sure whether to be angry, sad, pleased or all of the above. But more than anything, he was just confused.

"What does the crest mean?" He mutters.

"I'm not sure to be honest. I tried looking into it years ago, to see if I could maybe find him but it always led to a dead end. So I gave up trying"

San felt more tears build at his eyes as he stared down at the ring, running his finger over the smooth surface over and over again. "She really did love you, San. So, so, so much. And she was ready to do anything to protect you. I know you must feel hurt that she took away and hid such a huge part of you for so long but it was not without reason"

San takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and controlling his shaky breathing.

There were whispers.

Loud and head-splitting and deafening.

Increasing in volume as more and more whispers layered, one after the other.

Clawing and clawing until finally silence cut through the noise like a knife.

"Get up."

Yunho's eyes slowly slides open. Then he sits up straight on the bed robotically, turning and spotting a drow napping on the chair in the corner of the hut. He was meant to guard Yunho but must have fallen asleep.

Yunho watches him for a moment, a blank look on his face and dull lifeless eyes, before he pulls himself out of the sheets and made his way towards the sleeping male. His movements were stiff, bare feet tapping against the cold stone floors. And when he stops right in front of the man he stares at him with his head cocked to the side.

The man, who was snoring lightly, nods himself awake and sits up in surprise when he notices someone in front of him. He simply sighs when he saw it was Yunho. "What is it? Are you hungry?" He asks in a grouchy voice as he rubs his eyes awake. "You should go rest, you know how your brother get whe-"

Crack. Yunho snaps his head quicker than he could even finish speaking. His body going limp on the chair, dead. But despite having just killed a man his face remained blank and emotionless. He turns around and slowly made his way out of the hut.

Wooyoung releases a long breath as he paces back and forth, brows scrunched with worry. "Can you stop pacing, you're starting to piss me off" Jongho whines as he flips the page on the book he was reading.

The tangy orange of fhe setting sun, glazing their skin. He was sitted under a tree, wanting to read alone and watch the sun set when Wooyoung decided to come make sure to ruin his nice evening.

"He's been gone the whole day, what if it was a trap or something? What if he's in trouble?" Wooyoung wonders, eyebrows scrunched with worry.

"Good grief, San is fine. He knows how to take care of himself" Jongho rolls his eyes at him.

Wooyoung groans and runs his hand through his hair, deeply annoyed by how long his boyfriend had been gone. A small silence settles between the brothers with Jongho quietly reading and Wooyoung staring off in the distance, over at the mountains and vast forestry spanning over miles and miles of land.

"I'm gonna propose" Wooyoung says abruptly, his gaze still on the horizon. It almost felt like the wind had understood what he said because suddenly a breeze blows and scatters his dark hair ever so slightly.

Jongho's brows furrow and he slowly pulls his head back from the book he had his face buried in. "What did you say?"

Wooyoung sighs shakily then turns to look his brother in the eyes. "I'm going to propose to San"

Jongho's eyes widen and slowly a smile forms on his lips, growing wider and wider. Until soon he's enveloping Wooyoung in a tight hug and messing with his hair. "No fucking way!" Jongho squeals excitedly and Wooyoung laughs.

"Yah- Stop it" Wooyoung warns. He tries to sound annoyed but his smile was just as big as Jongho's.

"Are you kidding, this is huge! Fuck, there's no way he's gonna say no" Jongho gasps and covers his mouth with his hands. "You're gonna be married and move in together and have kids. Oh shit, I'm gonna be an uncle-"

"Woah. Ok ok, slow down" Wooyoung laughs at his over enthusiasm. "No one's getting kids anytime soon. Anyways, you can't mention this to anyone-"

"Mention what to anyone?" A voice startles them from behind. Hongjoong comes walking out from behind the tree they were seated under. Before Wooyoung could even get a word out Jongho sprung to his feet, practically launching his book to the side.

"Wooyoung's gonna propose to San" Jongho squeals, gripping Hongjoong's arm excitedly. Wooyoung cringes and face palms.

Hongjoong's jaw goes slack as he shifts his gaze to Wooyoung, waiting for him to confirm it. "Wait are you serious?"

"Yeah.." Wooyoung says meekly, nervous avoiding his older brother's grey eyes. "When all this is over, I wanna... marry him"

Hongjoong didn't know what to say. The silence was defeaning. "I know you probably still have your reservations about San and this all still a bit weird for you but... I- I really do love him hyung" Wooyoung finally builds the courage to look up at the older male standing over him.

"I'm so painfully in love with him. I want to spend forever with him. And I know he feels the same way" Wooyoung's throat closes up when Hongjoong's face stays blank.

Slowly, the corners of Hongjoong's lips lift up into a smile. "I'm so happy for you Wooyo, really. And so fucking proud" He whispers and pulls Wooyoung to his feet before enveloping him in a hug. Wooyoung chuckles softly, returning the tight hug.

Jongho joins in on the group hug, a big gummy smile on his lips. "Ah- I love you guys"

The other two male laugh at him. "Also Hongjoong hyung, why do you smell like.. wet dog" Jongho adds, his nose scrunches.

Hongjoong suddenly gets an uncomfortable look on his face. "It's nothing. Anyways, Wooyoung when are you gonna propose" He quickly tries to divert the attention. It works because Jongho switches his attention to Wooyoung again causing the oldest prince to stop the tension in his stomach.

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He's gonna propose shut up 🧍🏾‍♀️😭👹