No matter how physically and emotionally exhausted you were when you stepped into your makeshift chamber, the distress you got after meeting, arguing, and being humiliated by your new Vampire friend would not simply go away. Your mind seemed unable to let it go easily.

Needless to say, your sleep has been restless.

You finally give up as you sense the night getting closer to dawn. The sun has yet to show itself as you step out of the cavern, and the fog from last night is still thick around you that you take careful steps as you enter the heart of the forest.

Hunger is the first thing you feel when sleep fails you, hence why you have your mind set on claiming a hunt first thing before the day even starts. It is certainly not the first time for you to hunt this early in the day, making your move at the break of dawn, catching the small animals that had just been awakened from their slumber completely off guard. It might seem heartless when you think about it, but your own survival has always been the first priority that you can easily shake the guilt off as soon as you win your meal.

Even if the sky is still fairly dark, you head out straight towards the river, where your targeted game usually gathers for their first meal and water to start their day. The forest seems a bit darker and much more intense than how it used to be. Perhaps the new presence in one of its traps and the battle that happened the day before had awakened the magic and curses that have been protecting the forest, because you can feel the air bristling with them as you walk past the trees.

But nothing could stop you from continuing your walk.

Focusing on the dense trees around you, you heighten your senses to track down the river, analysing the spots you are sure will be packed with animals to hunt within the next hour. As the noises of their tracks finally come at you, you also notice that the ruckus from yesterday's battle has also died down. What remains are the scents of gunpowder, silver, and blood, but nothing else is there. With the knowledge comes your confidence, and soon you are met with the open land and the sight of the riverbank welcoming you.

Deciding that the area is clear for you to move, you quickly choose a spot to wait and lay low, keeping your eyes on the river the whole time. Soon, herds of animals start to gather in the land, including the small critters that had probably spent their whole night in hiding. As the dawn breaks and rays of sunlight begin to emerge from the horizon, you have chosen a prey, and nothing is going to stop you from getting the meal you deserve most.

'—And I thought we agreed to ignore his existence.'

You choose to ignore your wolf as she keeps repeating the same complaints over and over again during your trip back after succeeding in your kill.

Your claws are buried deep within the neck of the fawn you are dragging on your right hand, while your left is clutching tightly on the two unconscious, yet still living, wild rabbits that you got right before you left the riverbank and have since been tied down so helplessly together.

There is no explanation for why you did it. But the thought of the Vampire, the memory of seeing his painful gaze when he talked about the ambush which had hurt him and sent him into a frenzied state of mind, all came back to you just as you made your kill.

Perhaps it was your conscience that had spoken, or the fact that you relate to the despair you felt from him the minute you turned your back on him. Whatever it was that had you so hastily grabbed those two oversized rabbits, you only knew that you would not be able to live with yourself if you had let another victim of this cursed place to starve after whatever turmoil he had possibly gone through.

Not after what you had gone through only two moons ago.

Knowing that feeding him a dead fawn would not be enough, and also rude, knowing that Vampires would normally prefer a living meal, you captured the two smaller animals, knocking them unconscious so you could bring back live animals for him to feed their blood on. Ever since then, your wolf has refused to shut her noisy mouth, relentlessly letting you know how much she is not fond of the fact that you are feeding the impolite guest now residing in the cave where you have been hiding in.

"Look," you make a stop right at the mouth of the cavern, completely exhausted and exasperated with the voice that had kept nagging in your head that you finally respond to it out loud. "Let's look at it this way, if it was the other way around and we were the one stuck inside that trench two moons ago, can you imagine what it would be like for us? We were wounded and hungry, except that we had no help around. There has to be a reason why it was not us down there."

'Of course, there is a reason. I was the reason.'

Inwardly rolling your eyes at your stubborn other half, you only shake your head. "Yes, well thanks for your quick reflex. Unfortunately, he had no other beast inside him that could take over when he was down."

Your wolf chooses to be silent this time, and you take the chance to continue. "Besides, look at it this way. We still have no idea if he is going to eat the meat, so once he drains the little animals, we can save the meat and the remains of our breakfast for the rest of the day so we don't have to hunt again later for dinner."

You can feel your wolf circling on the shelter which she had created for herself inside your head, trying to calm herself while considering your words. You know that you had gotten through her thick head somehow, but you give her time to push her pride back in silence.

'Whatever,' she finally answers, then she rests on her hind legs, giving up with a sarcastic scoff. 'Go on and take care of your new pet so we can have our breakfast already. We're hungry.'

Leaving the fawn right at the center of the cavern, you walk through the path leading you back to the trench, back to the place where the Vampire is trapped in. As you enter the cursed chamber, you can feel how thick the air is with his presence. His power is flowing out in constant waves, as if he is deliberately releasing them out of his body. 

You remember waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of thumping, so you can only guess that he had spent the whole night either trying to escape using his powers or that he was using them to make himself feel stronger. It was obvious that he had not yet fully recovered when you came to see him the first time, which is also the reason why you had the urge to share your kill.

With the sun already high in the sky, you come closer to the trench with expectations of seeing him sheltering in the dark, away from the bright sunlight that is coming through the opening from the ceiling. Instead, there he is, standing right at the center of the trench where the lights are falling into, staring straight up as if challenging the sun with his bright ruby eyes.

'Well, now we know that he doesn't burn under the sun,' your other half speaks in wonder, while you only watch him in silence, drinking in the sight of him that you had missed last night.

You have heard stories about how Vampires appear as ethereal as they possibly could, depending on their ages and powers. You have never met a true Pure Blood Vampire before, except for that one merchant who once tried to travel past the ground to your pack's territory when you were still a growing cub. 

But you have seen pictures of them in the books you have read while you were in your father's library. Pictures that describe them as the most beautiful creatures anyone would ever see, until they mature well past the age where their powers would start draining their physical features from within, deforming them into monsters that could never show themselves in broad daylight, terrifying enough to look at that they become the folk tale elders read to their young to have them all fear the nightfall.

Under the bright sunlight, Jimin reminds you of those pictures of Pure Blood Vampires you have seen in those books.

His light hair, his porcelain skin, his plump lips, and all the features which he owns that make it seem as if he had come alive from the most beautiful painting that the Goddesses have ever made. And for the first time ever, you are able to see how his ruby irises are glowing, the colours in his eyes swirling in the same way the waves of his powers are erupting from his body.

As if he could feel your presence, he slowly turns his head to look at you. His gaze shows no emotions and you cannot decide what to say to him that you wait for him to speak first.

His eyes fall on your empty hand as he turns to face you, watching the fawn's blood dripping from your fingers and claws. Something you remember from reading your old books comes to mind, about how the eyes of a Vampire would turn into deep, bloody red at blood lust, and you are quite surprised to see that it is not happening to him at the sight of the drying blood.

I guess that debunks another theory, you wonder briefly, before clearing your throat and beginning to speak when he stays silent.

"I brought breakfast," you quickly tell him, pulling his attention away from your bloodied hand and muddy clothes. "I suppose you would prefer fresh blood, so these rabbits are still quite alive. They might be awake any moment now so you probably want to feed on them now before they try to flee. I also have a fawn that is big enough for us both and could last until tonight's dinner, so I can share it with you later if you also enjoy cooked meat. I usually have the meat roasted half rare—"

"Lower them to me," Jimin carefully speaks, stopping your nervous rambling while raising his hand to you.

With a nod, you reach down to the rope which you have prepared around your waist, tying them around the rabbits before lowering them both into the trench for him to grab. You watch in silence when he gracefully reaches for them, untying the rope around them and holding them gently in his hands. He looks up at you briefly before he throws you a smile, and a grateful look flickers through his gaze. You still have your eyes on him when you see it, the colours in his eyes turning into silver instead of the bloody red you were expecting to see.

And then you see it when it happens.

Jimin looks down at the wild rabbits in his hands, then slowly lifts one of them towards his mouth. You can see his fangs appearing then, and despite remembering all the things you have read about how Vampires feed on their prey, you somehow know that he is not going to sink those sharp fangs into his meal. He softly murmurs words in the ancient language that you had once studied as a small cub, then kisses the first rabbit gently. 

As his lips peck on the rabbit's head, white glowing light emerges from the animal in his hand, before they start moving towards him, engulfing him in a soft glowing mist before they disappear into his body. As the light fades, the first rabbit falls motionless in his hand, while his eyes are still glowing pale silver. You still cannot look away as you watch him doing the same thing as the other rabbit, and watch closely as the same thing happens all over again with it.

You are still completely frozen on the spot and speechless when he is done. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, shuddering briefly before he opens them again, immediately looking up your way. His ruby eyes have returned when he smiles at you, but his pale and dull face has turned much brighter than the night before and his whole body appears much stronger while the frenzied waves of his emotions and power are slowly settling to calm.

His show of feeding is over too soon, but he has gotten the sufficient meal that he needs to recover and gain back control of his strength.

'I guess the Vampire is not a Bloodsucker after all,' says your wolf, who has been silent all this time.

Now you understand why he seemed to despise it most when you called him with that nickname last night.

You are sitting at the edge of the trench with a full tummy, looking down on Jimin who is just finishing the last bite of his roasted meat. The remaining meat you have caught this morning and have yet to cook had been sliced up and reserved for the next meal of the day, including the remains of the rabbits whose life sources had been sucked dry by the Vampire you are now closely studying with a curious gaze.

Words have yet to return to you after witnessing him 'feed' earlier. Nothing was said as he sent the dead rabbits back to you using the same rope, or when you lowered his portion of the medium-rare roasted deer meat you made to him earlier. And try as you may, you find it hard not to keep your eyes off of him even as you are finishing your meal, only looking away each time his gaze finds you.

"Thank you," he says, breaking the silence. "For all the fulfilling food and even for sharing your meat. You really didn't have to."

"I wanted to," is all you say to him once you find your voice again.

He nods. "I am deeply grateful for your help. And I am terribly sorry, for everything I said last night, for offending you," he softly speaks with remorse.

There is without a doubt a sincereness in his eyes when he apologises that you instantly forgive him even before you say anything. "I have been on the edge, frustrated and hurt. Betrayal is the most painful thing one has to endure on their own, and it is something that you can never fully recover from in such a short amount of time. I'm sorry for taking it out on you. I really shouldn't have done it."

His words cut deep into your gut.

Betrayal, you let the word echo in your mind. Just as the voices that had been haunting you every night of the past two moons return to you—

'Traitor!'

'Murderer!'

"I know how it feels," you mutter lowly when you are still feeling all the hurt from your own betrayed past. "And I do understand, you know," you continue while clearing your throat, hoping that he would not catch on to the waves of your emotions that are beginning to come rolling out of you. "It must have been frustrating to be caught in a strange place without knowing how to get out and being left alone with another being that is not your own, even one that you terribly dislike."

"I actually prefer it more not to see my own kind at the moment," he suddenly says, then smiles. "I suppose we can try it again? Try to be a good company to each other now that all we have is one another?"

He sounds pretty hopeful that you cannot help but smile and feel giddy for his kindness. Ignoring the way your other half is scoffing at you at the back of your mind, you nod your head to him and say, "Of course, I think we really should work together if we want to survive this place."

As nightfall comes, you are back in your chamber, resting on the makeshift bed that had been nearly deformed since the night you built it. The soiled sweater you have been wearing all day has been discarded to be washed at the river in the morning, leaving you in your undergarments as you lie down facing the cavern's ceiling. The pelts taken from a few of your earlier hunts have changed forms into your sheets and blankets.

Jimin's words had not left your mind ever since the last talk you had with him, when each of you took turns sharing the terrible predicaments that you are having now, vaguely mentioning the troubles you both had to face that had forced you both to leave your lands. He had not been so truthful in telling you the whole story, but you still remember him mentioning of him being ambushed. From the hurt and the murmurs he probably thought you had missed, you vaguely guessed that he had enemies from within his own clan.

What are the odds, you mull to yourself as you raise your right arm, holding your forearm above your head to study the mark which was left behind from your recovering wounds. What if we did share the same things other than being stuck in a cursed land? What is the Goddess trying to show us by leading us to hide here and let us meet him?

As your eyes fall on your bare forearm, you raise your other arm and start tracing your skin, letting your cold fingers graze lightly over the pack mark that is still visible there and looking as clear as day. You have kept expecting to wake up one day to find it gone, or slowly disappearing from your skin the longer you are away from your pack. But the mark had lasted longer than you had thought it would, appearing just as clear and as evident as the day it first came to the surface right after your first shift.

Having the mark still there on your skin can mean many things.

That you still have the bond to your pack and you are not considered packless. Yet.

That he is still alive. That they might still be alive.

That whoever is holding the power in your pack at the moment has yet to cast you away and put you in banishment.

That you still have a chance to return home.

Whatever the reason may be, it brings you hope. Hope for the things that you had thought you lost and for the chance to fix everything that had been broken. Although, as time passes by, you have grown even more restless. The fact that you still have the mark becomes the only hope that has kept you going and never once feel the need to give up. But you are also afraid to keep on hoping for too long or to take it for granted only to find out that you are to return too late.

Resting your tired arms on either side of your body, you close your eyes, letting your mind wander back to the day you fled from your land. The voices always return, always haunting and hurting you the way they did when you first heard them.

'Murderer!'

Taking a long, deep breath, you open your eyes wide. Staring straight at the dark ceiling with new hope and determination that you still have, you make one last vow before sleep arrives. "When the time comes, I will prove myself and avenge you, Father. I promise that I will fix everything and make things right again. And I will not fail."

For the next three days, it becomes a new routine for you to do.

You would leave the cavern at the break of dawn, make your way to either the riverbank right at the heart of the forest or to the nearest creek for an early hunt, and then bring back your kill and a pair of small animals for Jimin to feed on their life source from. The process will always remain the same; using the ropes you had set up at the side of the trench, the meal will be passed back and forth between you and Jimin. 

Once he is done feeding on the small animals, you will keep them saved for dinner, while the bigger game is roasted and shared for the rest of the day. You would then continue the day exploring the forest, scouting the area while doing some of your own training, before retreating to the cavern for dinner and slumber.

Each mealtime, you will sit by the edge of the trench with him sitting at the center of the trap, sharing light talks and bonding over a good meal. In the end, once you finally have a chance to get to know him a bit better, without all the arguing and unnecessary debates, you have to admit that his presence soon becomes a welcomed companionship and that he is really not so bad of a character at all.

From his stories, you find out that he is indeed a Pure Blood, born at the peak of the Blood War before he lost his whole family just as the war was ending. Since then, he became his Vampire Lord's favourite novice, and then grew up as a Traveller. As adulthood came to him, he started exploring different regions to seek out new knowledge in science and remedies to bring back to his homeland and share with his Lords, and had been doing so for centuries.

Despite not being able to go anywhere, it does not mean that Jimin only stays idle. At most, he seems determined to recover and prepare himself for his return to his homeland. You have noticed that each time you are away and every night after you have retreated to your chamber, Jimin spends the time recuperating while putting himself in training. You can hear him from across the cavern, the sound of the ground rumbling and the walls shattering from his powers accompany your sleep every night.

He had once explained to you that he had just obtained a large part of his powers recently, which answered your curiosity as to why he had lost control of it once before. He never truly explained to you how he had obtained them and from whom, and you have decided not to ask him to tell you everything about it either, opting to not pry too much in order to keep him from doing the same to you as well.

In return, you told him a bit part of yourself that you could share. That you are a Warrior of your pack, or an Enforcer, if you suppose that you can be considered as one. And you have had your share of travelling to different regions as well, although most were done for pack diplomacies and exchanging knowledge in battle and war training.

You never explain to him anything about your family, about your title, and about the real reason why you were the one involved in all of those pack matters. But most of all, despite knowing his curiosity, you could never find it in you to tell him why you had left your pack in the first place, aside from having to deal with a similar betrayal by your own kind the same way he dealt with his own. But you have made it clear to him that you are going to return one way or another, no matter what it takes, and fight them if you must.

"How are you planning to do it? How are you going to leave this place?"

It is the third morning since you have started bonding with the Vampire. You and Jimin had finished your morning meal long ago, but neither of you has made any move to part ways due to the rainfall happening outside. You were just talking about returning to your pack land and him to his homeland, both of you having unfinished business that you both need to deal with soon. You look at Jimin, considering the answer to his question. Among the many things you know he would be uncomfortable with, your answer might top it all if you are not careful.

"With help," you answer hesitantly at first, before you find his desperate gaze. "So—I've told you before that once we are inside this forest, it would be hard to find our way out without help from outside. Well, I am waiting for that help to arrive. I managed to make contact once I recovered, and he promised me that he would come in two moons. That was on the fourteenth day since I have been here."

He furrows his brows. "Help? So another werewolf is coming? Someone from your pack?" he keeps asking, while you can only bite the insides of your cheeks, not completely sure how to start explaining. "Will they be able to set foot into this land? I thought you said there are traps and magic that will—"

"No, not a Werewolf," you quickly stop him. "It's—complicated. But he is a friend. I haven't figured out yet how he managed to track me here, but he did, and we found a way to communicate with each other and he was able to enter the land without anything stopping him. That is why he is the only one who could get me out, and I'm sure enough that he will be able to get you out of there too."

"How?" his expression is both hopeful and suspicious, which you could understand perfectly why. "How is he going to help us?"

"He had found a way, or rather, found someone who could help teach him how to. That is why it took him so long before he could return. That's actually what I've been doing lately when I am out in the forest all day. I'm still waiting for a sign coming from him, a message or anything from him that will let me know if he is indeed coming here," you tell him. 

As relief starts to emerge in his eyes, you can feel your own coming as well. "The battle between the Hunters and the group of rogues that we heard a few days ago had made it impossible for me to reach out to him or send anything outside of the forest, and I'm guessing it was also making it hard for him to reach us at the same time."

Jimin only nods without a single word, to your relief. He seems to be thinking hard, but at the same time, determined. "Let me know if you hear anything from him soon," he says, straightening himself while looking straight into your eyes. "Are you sure that he has no problem getting me out of here too?"

There is no obvious answer to his question. Jimin was not there at the last exchange of messages you made for your help, and no messages have been sent to you ever since he had gotten here. So you only shrug and hope for the best.

"Well, I guess we could only wait and see to find out. But I will do everything I can to convince him to do it for us. He won't have any other choice but to help you, after all."

Despite being hopeful, two more days have passed by without any positive news that Jimin soon grows even more restless than he did before.

He can feel himself getting stronger, more content, and more in control of his new powers, once it has stopped colliding with his old ones. He has been in training while he spends his time inside the trench. Not that he has anything else to do, after all. With the curse still binding him there, he has nowhere else to go. As a Vampire, he rarely has the need to have any good sleep either, hence why he has been using it all the time he has to focus on getting to know his new abilities and understand his limits, all while making a plan on how to deal with the trouble waiting for him back home.

He still has a mission to finish, and a clan to lead and protect until the day his mission is cleared. It still feels like a dream that he is now officially a Lord of the Vampires. A very pathetic Lord, he inwardly curses. Instead of leading the clan to fight off the rebellion, here I am, stranded in the middle of nowhere and completely paralysed, leaving the whole clan and our homeland exposed to danger.

The thought draws his anger and shame which he releases through a blow of energy onto the walls right across from him, making the ground beneath him rumble while rocks come shattering around him. He has been constantly on edge ever since he found himself in this place. 

At first, he had blamed it all on the things that he had endured, and all the betrayal and failure that had sent him to this place in his defeat, until you finally told him the secrets about this Sacred Forest and everything about the Ancient Magic that covers the whole land.

He never felt it before when he was still recuperating and trying to balance the clashing powers inside his body. Now that he had finally managed to reign in those powers that had been fighting against him, after days and nights of training himself, he could now use them to his advantage. With his new enhanced abilities and senses, he could finally feel them even as he was sitting down at the center of the trench. The Ancient Magic that is the soul of the forest and also the trap that is binding you and him both.

He can finally feel its presence with him; in the air, on the ground, on every breath he takes.

The whole place is humming with it.

What kind of help was she talking about? He silently wonders as he looks up, staring at the sky that is slowly growing darker through the opening in the ceiling above. The only kind of help that might be able to fight off these curses could only come from one being, he realises, before his blood starts to boil at the thought of the kind of powers that you might be searching for help from. There is no way a wolf could trust them.

No matter how much Vampires despise Werewolves the most, and vice versa, they still share the same hatred for one another. Ever since the Blood War, there is only one other being in this world who has made themselves their common enemy.

The Witches.

Jimin keeps glancing up to the sky to watch the day turning into night. And that is how you find him when you return to the cave after being out in the forest for the whole day.

You come in without a word, but there is something that pulls Jimin's attention away from whatever he is searching for through the small hole up there. As his gaze turns wide, you can tell that he can easily read your expression with one look as he always does. You usually return to the cavern with deep exhaustion on your face that is hard to miss, and today you bear nothing of it as it has been replaced by relief.

His eyes move down to your clutched hand, where you are holding the small scroll of a letter you found earlier as you were strolling down the borders. The sun was starting to set when you reached the last spot among the borders and you were ready to head back to the cave, only to be stopped by a raven that landed on a tree nearby.

The same raven which had been your messenger while communicating with your 'help'. The scroll has been tied on one of its legs, the same way it has always been done. You quickly opened it despite trying to not bear too much hope, only to find the message that you have been waiting for written delicately in it—

Coming in the second sundown — J.

"So?" Jimin asks you as he grows impatient while you are still trying to process the news.

You had run all the way from the edge of the forest to the cavern the moment you received the news, eager to celebrate and to share it with Jimin, before curling at the corner of your chamber to read the letter all night long. But now, you can barely understand what you are currently feeling at the thought of how close you are to finally escaping this place. You have been stuck in this place for so long that it feels completely surreal to even imagine leaving.

As you look at the Vampire who is waiting for an answer, you cannot even show him at least a semblance of excitement. Not even when you finally share the news.

"I got a message. It's finally here," you carefully start, only to stop when you realise how weird it feels to voice it out loud. How strange it seems when you feel that it is becoming a reality as you say those words. 

You fall silent for a moment, letting it all sink in, before you find Jimin throwing you a look that says 'And?' which makes you take a deep breath and continue, "He's coming, or at least, he is on his way. He will be here in one or two more nights from today if there is no trouble in the way."

Keeping your eyes on his face, you have half expected that he would show something that might make things feel a bit better. That at least one of you would welcome the good news with joy. Instead, his frown deepens as he seems to be lost in his thoughts, and a solemn look takes over his gaze.

"Why? What's wrong?" you ask him as his expression grows dark with something that may have been a resemblance of guilt.

"Nothing, it's just—" Jimin shakes his head while his eyes turn a bit wide with realisation. "It's not that I feel ungrateful. I am relieved, to be honest. We can finally have a chance to leave this cursed place. I can finally leave this damn trench hole. But I have wasted too much time being stuck in this place. I should have been back in my homeland by now."

You have no words to respond, but you do feel the same way as he is feeling now. Perhaps that explains the bittersweet feeling that is present in your heart. You have spent way too long being stuck in this place when you could have done something, anything, to fix all the mess that you left behind. This time, you have a deep frown on your face when you return his gaze. And it stays there when Jimin suddenly chuckles, his voice sounding bitter with regret when he continues to speak.

"I have no idea how long it would take me to return, and I still have a few things to deal with before I do," he says, shaking his head. He looks up once again, glancing at the sky as he mutters, "I might not even make it back before the next moon."

You barely catch his words when you think about your own predicament. But when you finally realise what he just said, you cannot help but question him, "What's the next moon? What's going to happen then?"

Jimin flattens his lips together before looking your way again. His eyes are dark and intense, yet they draw no fear from you when you know that they are not meant for you. "The crowning ceremony for the new Vampire Lord," he briefly answers you, before biting his lips. You open your mouth to question him about it, only to have him cut you off. "But that is not important. Even if I can't make it back for the ceremony or finish what I need to do before then, at least I have to figure out how to be back in my homeland exactly then. Before it's too late."

"Too late for what?" you manage to ask him once you find your voice. You remember him telling you how his previous Lords had descended to their Eternal Sleep and what it meant for his clan. And you recall how he explained how that event alone had triggered chaos to happen back home. The rebellion, his missing brothers, and the betrayal that he had to face.

Jimin looks at you in the eye. "The Blood Moon is rising," is all he says to you, without any further explanation.

You have lost track of time since you have been here, that is true, but you still remember about the Blood Moon, since it does mark an event that you are trying to avoid at all cost. Yet you can feel it in your guts that your ordeal may seem mundane to whatever is causing Jimin's emotion to once again turn into a wave of anger at the mention of the upcoming moon.

"I don't understand. What is going to happen on the Blood Moon?" you carefully ask him as the unsettling feeling in your gut intensifies the longer you stare into his eyes. "Is it—bad?"

The way Jimin snaps his eyes at you makes you feel slightly stupid for asking and you nearly backtrack before he exhales deeply. "It is more than just bad," he says, making you inwardly wish you could slap yourself on the face, but also know that you should probably listen to what he has to say.

The way your wolf has grown silent ever since he mentions the Blood Moon has given you a clue that the upcoming moon means a whole lot more than it does to Werewolves, so you choose to stay silent and wait for him to explain.

Jimin paces inside the trench, seemingly nervous and worried, with a whole different kind of anger emerging from him. "The Blood Moon means a huge deal for Vampires in general, ever since ancient times," he starts explaining, all while pacing in his spot. It seems that moving somehow helps him a little in dealing with his edginess.

"You have seen me fed, and I can tell you now that ever since the Blood War happened, there are Vampires such as myself that have chosen to stop feeding on blood to be able to control our lust. But the truth is, no matter what a Vampire feeds on to survive, we still have the hunger for blood. Even those who are my kind, while feeding on life sources, our body still has cravings for blood. We only have a better way to hold back after having our hunger fulfilled with something else for a change," he keeps talking, his eyes looking forward no matter which way he is pacing.

"But there have been times when Vampires lose complete control of their Blood Lust, when the hunger becomes so much—too much to handle that it even takes over our sanity. That is what the Blood Moon does to Vampires, it enhances our hunger for blood, and we have no control but to give in to our Blood Lust." Jimin stops pacing around, yet he clenches his hands tightly while he keeps his eyes looking away from you. He seems to be lost, as if he is picturing his own lust for blood in his mind after talking about it.

"And what will happen to you if you can't make it back by then?" you decide to ask him when he shows no sign of speaking, earning his undivided attention as he turns his eyes on you again.

"What happens to me is not going to be important," he firmly says, this time while looking deep into your eyes. You can see something that is similar to wariness in his gaze, as his ruby irises keep swirling as if there is a storm happening in his eyes.

Jimin's lips curl into a scowl before they flatten down into a tight line. "Remember the rebellion I was telling you about?"

Nodding your head, you carefully answer him, "Those who had tried to harm you?" he answers with a nod instead of words, so you keep on asking, getting more curious as the air suddenly grows intense. "What do they have to do with the Blood Moon?"

You can tell that he is reluctant to answer, or to even explain, but the fear in his eyes tells you differently. He needs to talk about it somehow, to explain why he has the need to prepare himself so intensively before he has to return and face his clan. 

"There has been a battle of power in my clan for a long time. What I had told you about the rebels uniting and planning for a coup was only a part of what they were actually trying to do. With our Lords no longer holding the throne and acting as the pillar of powers in our clan, there are a few parties that are trying to take over leadership and bring back everything that we had left behind after the Blood War. Those parts of us that they are trying to bring back include the Ancient Tradition that had every soul and being in this world, including the Gods above themselves if they truly exist, despised the Royal Vampire Descendants and its Neo-Monarchy. One that had given birth to the beginning of the Blood War."

You can feel your heartbeat rising, pacing so fast and loud in your chest. The Blood War had happened long before you were born, but every bit of its history and everything that happened then had been taught to the generation which was born in the post-war era, namely you as a part of it. And even if you were not such a bright student back when you were a cub or when you had grown as a teenage wolf, you still remember vaguely parts of the war which you had learned about, and what had led to it happening.

"What—what tradition?" you nearly choke as you question him. There is no doubt that he could sense the wariness growing within you when you see the concern building up in his deep gaze.

Jimin takes a deep breath before he can continue, as if what he is about to tell you will be just as hard for him to speak of as it will be for you to hear. "To honour the Blood Lust, and the power that the Royal Vampire Family had at the time, our ancestors held their annual hunts on every rising of the Blood Moon. We called it The Blood Hunt. Vampires, no matter what clan they were in or what family they were born from, as long as they were loyal followers of the Royals, they would all gather and then spread out all over the region, surrendering themselves to their Blood Lust before going on a massive hunt.

The hunt would always start from the time the Blood Moon had risen on the night sky until it descended, stopping only the moment the Blood Lust was no longer there to take over their sanity. There was never any kind of way to control how many they would hunt and feed on, and nothing could stop them until the lust died on their own accord. And with an entire community going on the hunt, there would be no telling of how many regions would fall at the end of it, how many fallen victims would be left behind when the sun would rise the next day."

"A hunt?" the word comes out barely a whisper. Even your heartbeat seems to sound louder than your voice. Your whole body had grown cold ever since Jimin started to tell you about what the Blood Moon meant for the Vampires, and you have lost the feeling in your limbs ever since you heard the words—

The Blood Hunt.

"Hunt for—what? What will they be hunting for?"

Silence falls between you. You give out a silent prayer that your fear will never come true. But as you look into Jimin's eyes, you can already hear the answer before he finally speaks it out loud,

"Humans."