Chapter 17:

The days faded into weeks and you were starting to get bored. You'd been entertaining yourself by reading more of Dracula's journals. You'd gotten through an entire journal where most of the entries talked about Dracula's seemingly mundane life. You thought a vampire's life would be more interesting, but he mostly only complained about small inconveniences and whined about how he missed certain things about being human.

It was surprising to hear him talk about how he missed things like body heat and the sound of a heartbeat. These were things that you took for granted, that you never noticed on yourself, but it sounded strange to think about not having. To not be able to feel your own body heat, or to not be able to hear your own heart beat... you couldn't imagine it. In fact, there were a lot of things that you hadn't thought about with the differences between vampires and humans. They were technically undead, so they didn't breathe, didn't feel pain, didn't feel hot or cold, didn't feel anything. It was definitely creepy to think about, especially since you were currently living with three of them.

Other than the journals, you'd started picking up cooking and baking since there was nothing else to do. Since you basically had three chauffeurs, you were able to return to the grocery store on several occasions, without having to worry about the bill. You felt a bit bad for taking their money, until you were reminded that it was technically your money, since it had been Dracula's at one point.

So far, you'd baked three separate batches of cookies and cupcakes and had even tried your hand at cooking steak, which you'd never tried before. The cookies came out fine, but the cupcakes had definitely been way too sweet. They were tasty regardless.

Your relationship with the boys had slowly been improving. When you said "improving", you meant it in the loosest form of the term. You didn't argue with them as much. Jimin had been toning down the creepy smiles and secret smirks and had instead tried to be as calm and collected around you as possible. You still definitely thought there was something sketchy about his intentions, but so far, he hadn't given you any reason to try and figure out what that was. Jungkook was stoic as always, but he didn't blatantly ignore you like he had been up to this point.

In fact, you'd even caught him smiling at one point when you were trying to figure out how to bake cupcakes. You'd been covered in batter, glaring at your phone where the recipe was, unable to touch it because your fingers had been too sticky, when he had walked into the kitchen. You both froze and stared at each other, your cheeks flushing bright red when you realized how ridiculous you looked. Jungkook had looked at the scene, glancing at your hands, to your phone, the bowl, and then back up at your eyes and his jaw tightened, his lips pressing together.

You let out an exasperated breath and moved to wash your hands, but suddenly, Jungkook appeared next to you and he leaned over to turn your phone back on for you, navigating to the recipe. He placed the phone in front of you and you gulped at the sudden proximity. When you glanced up at him, you noticed the tiniest of smiles in the corner of his mouth before he turned away and grabbed a bag of blood from the fridge.

Taehyung, on the other hand, had actually changed the most out of the three. It was like everything that had gone down with Rosemary had given him some kind of closure, because he wasn't as angry and volatile as before. In fact, you almost found him pleasant to be around and didn't mind so much if the two of you had a chance to talk. Granted, your conversations were always awkward and short, but this was definitely better than before when any conversation would lead to an argument or yelling match.

You were bored out of your mind most days, so you spent most of your time pacing around the house and listening to music. Part of you wondered if this was how it was always going to be, being bored forever, cooped up in a house, unable to go anywhere by yourself for fear of being kidnapped and murdered. You hadn't even seen Lazarus since he'd left you here, what was he doing through all of this? Perhaps you could convince him to allow you to move somewhere else where you could transfer to a different university where no one knew you, so you wouldn't have to compel anyone. That way you could at least be doing something.

The three vampires were able to come and go as they pleased as long as there was at least one of them who could look after you. Jimin left from time to time, Taehyung even less than that. Jungkook on the other hand left almost once every day. Almost every single day like clockwork, he would announce that he was going out and then leave for an hour or two. When he returned, he always seemed more tucked into himself and he always smelled like mud and trees. You were extremely curious about where he was always heading off too, enough so that you asked Jimin about it one day.

"I'm going out." Jungkook announced, as he usually did, heading for the front door. You mustered up your courage and called out to him before he could leave.

"Where are you going?" You asked abruptly, causing Jungkook to pause at the door. He rotated his head to give you a cold stare and you gulped.

"Out." He muttered tersely. You opened your mouth to ask again, but he left before you could even get a word out. You huffed in annoyance as the door shut behind him. You turned away and saw Jimin leaning against the dining room door, watching you with a tiny smile in the corner of his mouth. You narrowed your eyes at him, crossing your arms.

"Do you know where he goes every day?" You asked, nodding at the door behind you. Jimin smirked and shrugged.

"He just likes to walk around, I guess." He said, with a twinkle in his eyes. You let out a huff, knowing that Jimin was just toying again. He probably knew exactly where Jungkook went every day, but he just didn't want to tell you.

"If you don't want to tell me, then just say so. You don't have to pretend to be ignorant or give me some vague-ass answer. You can stop being a dick about it." You snapped in annoyance.

Jimin grinned. "I'm telling you the truth, I don't know where he goes. Anytime I ask him, he just snaps at me or gives me a glare and won't answer. You've seen him, he isn't exactly the easiest to get answers from."

"Neither are you." You deadpanned.

Jimin laughed loudly, leaning his head back. "You got me there." He said with a cheerful smile. "I guess that's the bed you have to lie in when you live with vampires."

"It wasn't by choice, was it?"

Jimin grinned and you turned away, chills creeping over your spine at his expression. There was definitely still loads that he was hiding, you weren't stupid. He wouldn't tell you Lazarus' plan, wouldn't explain why he and Jungkook had agreed to protect you in the first place, and he seemed way too happy that Taehyung was still here even though he didn't need to be. Out of all three vampires, Jimin scared you the most.

"Jimin?" You asked, working up your courage. "What's the long-term plan?" Jimin glanced over at you, obviously caught-off guard.

"Long-term plan?" He asked, confused. You nodded.

"Yeah, like what is all of this supposed to look like years down the road. What's the point of all of this? Am I supposed to stay in this house forever?" You gestured around the house and Jimin pursed his lips, walking into the kitchen. You followed behind him as he replied to your question.

"Would that be so bad? We're not terrible company, are we?" He gave you a sideways grin and you narrowed your eyes.

"That's not what I meant." You mumbled as he took a seat on one of the stools. "I mean, is there a plan to maybe clear my name or something?" You took the seat across from him as he gave you a condescending look.

"Clear your name?" There was a tiny smile pulling at his mouth, which told you he was almost making fun of you. You gritted your teeth.

"Yeah, like what if I went in front of the Elders and I told them that I'm not a threat to them. Do you think they might let me live normally?" You demanded, clenching your fists. Jimin was silent for a beat, peering into your eyes skeptically.

"You can't just get an audience with the Elders." He said simply, with a shrug. You let out as exasperated sigh.

"Why not? Isn't Lazarus an Elder? Couldn't he get them to listen to me?" You slapped an angry hand on the counter. "I could explain to them that I'm the last in my line and that I don't plan to have children or be a threat to them so they could lift the stupid bounty on my head." Jimin watched your carefully, his mouth pulled into an expressionless frown.

"It's not a bounty that's on your head." He said vaguely, avoiding your point completely. You rolled your eyes, why wasn't he listening or acknowledging your point?

"I know, but it could work, couldn't it?" You asked hopefully. "I can be very persuasive when I want to be." You added with a smile, hoping to grab the humorous side of him. Jimin gave you an amused smile, but his face fell solemn and he shook his head.

"We have to follow what Lazarus has ordered for us. We can't go against him." He deadpanned firmly. He wanted the conversation to end, but you didn't want to give up yet.

"I can ask him." You argued. Jimin sigh, but you cut him off. "And... if that doesn't work then maybe we can move somewhere new? That way I can start over and transfer to a different school, so we don't even have to compel anyone?"

It was a pretty good plan, now that you thought about it. If you moved to a new city in a completely different place, you could start over. Go to a new school so you could continue getting your degree, maybe even get a job. You'd have to take the vampires with you, but it wasn't like there was anything in this town that kept them here that you knew about, so you didn't think there would be much objection. The only downside would be leaving the manor, but you honestly didn't care much about it. You'd been living here a while, but you hadn't formed a very big connection to it, so moving wasn't going to affect you much at all.

Jimin sighed and gave you a sympathetic smile, shaking his head.

"Right now, our orders are clear. Keep you here, protected." He said firmly, finishing the argument once and for all. You felt a swell of desperation.

"Can't you at least ask Lazarus?" You asked urgently. Before you could think about it, you reached over and grabbed Jimin's hands that were sitting on the counter. He looked down at your hands, then back up to you, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He pursed his lips as you gave him your best puppy-dog eyes. After a few moments of silence, Jimin sighed.

"Fine, I will ask Lazarus the next time he comes into town." He submitted, making you sigh in relief and smile.

"Thank you..."

~~~

Later that day, you were wandering around the house again, as you normally found yourself doing. Jungkook was still gone and Taehyung had gone out to get more blood from the blood banks. You paced up and down the hallways of the second floor, thinking about everything and nothing. Your thoughts wandered back to Rosemary and Taehyung, and then would shift to Dracula and the journal entries. You couldn't sit around because of how fast your mind was going, but there was nothing else to do, so... pacing.

You paused in front of Taehyung's room, which was the room next to the master bedroom where you stayed. The door was shut, and you stared at it for a second, feeling the urge to go snooping around. You looked around quickly, just to make sure Jimin wasn't up on the second floor before reaching for the door handle. You turned the knob and pushed the door open slightly, holding your breath slightly. After a few seconds of silence, you exhaled and poked your head through the ajar door and looked inside the room.

It looked like your room, with a large Victorian bed and a window that overlooked the manor driveway. You shuffled inside and looked around at the dresser in the corner and the large, mostly empty closet. There was nothing of interest and you felt way too weird to go shuffling through his drawers. You moved to the bed, a small smile pulling on your lips when you saw how messed up it was. The blankets were folded on top of each other and were hanging halfway off the bed, while one of the pillows was slanted diagonal on the bed and the other was on the floor. Taehyung wasn't the neatest person, which didn't surprise you much.

Something red on the sheets caught your eyes and you moved closer, pulling the blanket out of the way. You gasped when you saw a splatter of red stains in the sheets, which you could only assume were blood stains. You took a few steps back, realizing that there were blood stains on the pillows, a bit on the blankets, and even on the headboard of bed. You swallowed hard, remembering that human girl that Taehyung had compelled to feed on and pleasure himself.

You turned on your heel and left the room, trying to dispel the horrible memories. You felt sick, and you had to force yourself to take several deep breaths before you got the nausea under control.

From the drastic change in Taehyung's personality, it was sometimes difficult to remember that he was still a killer and that the cold part of him still existed and wouldn't just vanish because of one conversation.

You shut the door to Taehyung's room and walked away, hugging yourself tightly. You moved toward the staircase, walking by Jungkook's room, which was situated closest to the stairs. You stopped in your tracks when you noticed that his door was slightly ajar. Did you want to go snooping in his room too? Taehyung's room had left you feeling nauseous, but Jungkook's room probably didn't have any remnants of humans he'd killed... right?

It's not worth it, you told yourself. Just walk away.

But you couldn't walk away. Instead you turned around and walked back to Jungkook's door, taking a deep breath in front of it. You pushed it open and walked inside, looking around in awe when you saw what was inside.

The walls of the room were covered in canvases of all shaped and sizes, leaning on top of each other, hung up on the wall, and scattered on the floor. Some of the canvases were blank, but others beautiful abstract paintings on them. Parts of the walls and the floors that were clear had splatters of paint staining them. You looked around in awe at the shear number of paintings that cluttered the room. Your eyes could barely focus on one of them when another would catch your attention.

Had Jungkook painted all of these? He must have because you noticed that most of these painting had a similar style. You noticed that there were many paintings that depicted a meadow of some sort with someone sitting under a tree. Many of them were just angry splatters of paint and swipes of the brush in no particular direction. In fact, most of them were like that. Just looking around, you could tell that Jungkook poured his emotions into the paintings, which allowed him to remain so apathetic in real life.

You moved further inside, careful not to knock any of the canvases in your way. You noticed one in the center of the room that looked as though it was still in progress. It was propped up with a palette, some paint containers and brushes scattered around the floor around it. You stood in front of it and tilted your head, studying it carefully.

From the first glance, it just looked like a mess of red and black abstract brush strokes and angry paint spatters. But when you looked closer, you realized that there was a face in the painting. You shivered when you stared at the red eyes that seemed to be screaming as it was engulfed in a mess of black brushed strokes. You rubbed your arms, feeling like the room had dropped several degrees.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" You jumped at the sudden voice behind you. You whirled around to see Jungkook standing in the doorway, his eye ablaze and fists clenched at his sides. You swallowed hard.

"The door was slightly open..." You mumbled meekly. "I was... curious."

"So, you thought you would just go snooping around? Get the hell out."

You blinked and pursed your lips, turning back to the painting. You crossed your arms and stared at it, feeling suddenly uninclined to leave just yet.

"Did you paint all of these?" You asked, gesturing around the room. Jungkook made an angry sound in the back of his throat.

"None of your business, get out now." He marched over to you and grabbed your shoulder, pushing you toward the door. You stumbled but held your ground as you began to speak again.

"Is this why you don't ever want to talk to anyone about anything? Instead of talking about your feelings, you just pour them into your paintings?" You gestured around and Jungkook flashed his teeth.

"Shut up, stop talking." He growled, his grip on your shoulder tightening painfully.

"Who's the person in the painting, Jungkook? Is that you?" You pointed at the unfinished painting and Jungkook growled, pushing you back again. "What about the person in the meadow?" You continued, gesturing at the several paintings around the room of the meadow. "It seems to me that you're either painting that meadow, or something angry. So, what's the story there, huh?"

"What part of 'get the hell out' and 'shut up' do you not understand?" He pushed you to the door, but you stopped in the doorway and turned back to face the room, narrowing your eyes in challenge.

"You're angry, Jungkook. You may not act like it, you may pretend to be this cold, unfeeling person who doesn't care about anything, but you're angry." You said slowly. Jungkook scoffed.

"Wow, what an astute observation." He said sardonically. He slammed his hand on the wall beside your head and leaned close, intimidatingly. "Spare me your first-year-psych bullshit analysis." He snarled.

You crossed your arms and stared right back at him, refusing to back down. "If your angry, that means you care about something, Jungkook." You deadpanned.

Jungkook let out a cruel laugh that sent shivers down your back. "Really? I thought it meant I'd won the lottery." You inhaled sharply, glaring up at him. You debated whether or not to keep pushing. It felt like something was about to snap, and for a second, you realized you wanted to snap. You were more than annoyed with his stoic, emotionless expression all the time and finally, he was showing something. He was finally showing you emotion and you would have anything to keep him talking.

"One day you're going to explode. You can't keep this up forever." You blurted, stumbling when Jungkook shoved you out of the room. "You can't keep all this stuffed inside, it's gonna come out at some point."

"Well, I've managed to keep it inside for over a century, so I think I'm good, but thanks."

"Where do you go every day, Jungkook?"

"That's it." Suddenly, Jungkook's hand wrapped around your throat and you gasped when you were slammed against the wall of the hallway by your neck. You let out a small squeak when Jungkook face swam in front of you, inches from yours. The grip on your neck tightened slightly, not enough to cut off your air flow, but enough to remind you that he could if he wanted to.

"You don't know anything about me." He growled, sending shivers down your spine. "Don't pretend to be some shrink. I'm not a problem for you to fix, I'm not a display for your entertainment." He squeezed tighter and you gasped when your airway cut off. "I get that you're bored, and you don't know what your purpose is anymore, but that doesn't mean you can try to get in my head and meddle in my life. Lay the hell off." He finished, his breath fanning your cheeks. Your heart thudded in your chest as his black eyes flashed red for an instant, ominously.

He shoved you against the wall painfully and released your neck, making you cough and crumble to your knees. He turned on his heel and marched back to his room, slamming the door behind him.

You sucked in a sharp breath and rubbed your neck, where his hand had been, cutting on your airway. You stared at the ground, breathing deeply, trying to calm yourself down. You had definitely pushed too far, and you regretted it deeply. He was angrier than you first thought. For him to react like this, for him to actually physically intimidate you like this... his issues ran a lot deeper than you thought.

You pushed yourself to your feet and pressed a hand to your chest, closing your eyes as you leaned against the wall, breathing deeply. You were definitely getting too comfortable. You needed to remember to keep your guard up.