Chapter 5:

A week later, things had settled back down in your life. You went back to class and resumed your two jobs as a barista in the morning and a waitress in the afternoons and evenings. Selena and Katie remembered nothing from the weekend besides the club, which was both scary and relieving. You had no idea how you could explain anything that had happened, but the vampire compulsion had done the job for you. Everything had seemingly gone back to normal.

Except for you. You weren't the same anymore. Even as you diligently went to class, did your homework and worked your shifts, something felt different. Perhaps it was just the knowledge of the existence of vampires, or the fact that you were part vampire. You wondered how many vampires were hanging around you and your friends all the time. They could be anywhere because they didn't have any discerning features besides their red eyes when they fed on people. Granted, there probably weren't many of them wandering around in the day time, since according to Jimin they didn't like the sun very much, and yet you still wondered.

You started to think about your parents and the horrible childhood you'd had, bouncing from foster home to foster home for years until finally graduating high school. For the longest time, you'd been so angry at the world for being abandoned. And you were angry at yourself for blaming your parents for abandoning you when you knew that they'd died because of an accident. It hadn't been their fault, and yet you still harbored feelings of anger and resentment toward them.

And now...

Now, you found out that they hadn't died in an accident but had been brutally murdered by a vampire. There was finally someone to blame. But you had no details, no particulars about any of it. All you could do was take the word of Lazarus the Elder. You didn't know anything about Lazarus besides what you'd been told. How could you possibly know if he was telling the truth?

Perhaps all of this had been a strange drunken nightmare and you had just gone a little crazy. It wasn't too out of the blue. You had been working your ass off for years, so it was entirely possible that you had a few screws loose and you'd imagined the whole thing. Imagined the red eyes, the blood, the pain of the vampire's teeth sinking into your flesh...

You jerked awake in a cold sweat, the image of red eyes and sharp fangs still clouding your vision. You shook your head, banishing the remainder of the nightmare and looked over at your phone to see that you had woken up an hour earlier than you'd set your alarm. You climbed out of bed, not too eager to fall back asleep into the nightmares, and instead went to your bathroom to take a quick shower to get rid of the sweat from your nightmare-plagued sleep.

As you changed into your barista uniform, you checked your neck in the mirror, glad to see that the bite marks were practically invisible unless you stared really hard. You'd been covering the wound with makeup all week and you were glad that you didn't have to be so vigorous with it anymore.

As you packed up your backpack with your binders and notebooks for your three classes today, you packed some sharpened number 2 pencils in the top compartment of your backpack and even stashed a few in your belt. You had started to do this every day, just in case. You were pretty sure that stabbing a vampire with a pencil wasn't the best method of repelling them, but at least it was better than nothing at all. At the very least, it made you feel better.

You walked into the living room of the apartment and jumped in surprise when you saw Katie sitting at the kitchen counter, a wine bottle sitting in front of her that was halfway empty. You furrowed your eyebrows as she turned to face you, her eyes baggy and haunted.

"Katie? Are you okay? Why are you up so early?"

"I never went to sleep." She said with a delirious smile, her speech heavily slurred. You sighed, checked your watch, and then moved toward her. You swiped her wine away, ignoring her moan of protest, corked it, and put it back in the fridge.

"Why'd you do that?" She whined, stumbling to her feet. You looked down at her clothes and frowned. She was wearing her pretty blue dress that she'd been so excited to show her boyfriend, Caden. She was supposed to see him last night.

"Katie, what happened?" You asked, rounding the counter so you could help her stand up straight. Katie sighed and blew her bangs out of his eyes.

"Nothing." She said unconvincingly, avoiding your eyes. You stared her down until she eventually caved. "Caden blew me off." She said quietly. "He told me that he had to prioritize other things over me and then went off to some frat event." She sniffed loudly and tears spilled out of her eyes. You pulled her against your side and half-carried her to her room. You sat her on the bed and stripped her dress away, replacing it with her long sleep shirt.

"We haven't been on a date in months!" She continued. "Now we only do stupid movie nights at his room at the frat house. He doesn't want to go anywhere with me, it's like he only wants a booty call!" She sniffed and cried softly as you laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her. You sat down next to her and brushed her hair out of his face.

"You're going to be okay, Katie." You said softly. "He doesn't deserve you and he never has. I've told you before, I think you should dump him."

"But he's not always bad!" Katie reached out to grab your hand desperately. "He's sweet when he wants to be, and he always give me the most thoughtful gifts!" You fought the urge to roll your eyes at her. She was drunk and delirious, so nothing you said was going to get through to her. You patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"Go to sleep, Katie. You're going to wake up with a hell of a hangover." You said softly. Katie groaned and waved you off, rolling over, her eyelids drooping.

"Mmm, whatever." She mumbled, before settling into an uneasy slumber. You sighed and stood up from the bed, brushing your uniform off.

You returned to the living room and started to clean up the mess Katie had left behind. You opened the fridge and chugged a few gulps of milk from the carton, swiping your mouth and leaving the apartment for work.

The day started normally, as it would any other day. You served people their morning coffee for four hours until it was time for you to attend your classes. The lectures felt more boring today than usual, and you felt a little overwhelmed at how much homework was being assigned for the weekend. As you made your way from building to building in between classes, you had a strange feeling in your gut. Sometimes when you would round a corner, you would get goosebumps, like there was someone watching you. However, you never saw anything suspicious, so you tried to push the feeling from your mind.

On your way to your evening job as a waitress at a family restaurant, the feeling returned. You shivered and whipped your head around, pulling the straps of your bag tighter around you. You fingered the pencils still strapped to your waistline unconsciously. You looked around the alley in between two academic buildings that served a shortcut for your trip, but there was no one there. You tried to brush it off again and started to walk a little faster just in case.

Just as you were about to emerge from the alleyway, a hand clamped around your mouth and your stomach, yanking you back into the darkness. You tried to scream but your voice was muffled through the palm clenched tightly over your mouth. You were thrown harshly against thee wall and you slumped against it, grabbing at your backpack. You had mace on your keychain. The bag was suddenly ripped from your hand and tossed away. A hand closed around your throat and shoved you up against the wall with unnatural strength. You gasped for breath as he lifted you high enough that you were nearly dangling off the ground.

"That was easier than I thought." A nasty voice growled. You blinked hard, trying to make out the figure holding you up by your throat. You clawed at his hands and gasped for air, but his grip was like iron.

"Yeah, they said she was supposed to be dangerous." A second voice chimed in from a little farther away.

You felt fear claw up your stomach as you focused on two pairs of red eyes glinting at you. The icy hand around your throat squeezed slightly and you whimpered as you felt his breath getting closer to you. He dipped his head to your neck and took a long sniff.

Vampires, you thought to yourself helplessly.

"She smells so sweet." The vampire crooned, making you shudder in terror. The second vampire, still standing a little further away, stepped forward. He emerged into a bit of light, so you could see his white angular face and sharp eyes. He grinned, flashing his sharp fangs.

"Don't forget, she has to be intact. No feeding." He warned. The one holding you rolled his eyes, the red still visible. If they weren't feeding on you... then why were their eyes still red?

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Stupid rule, if you ask me." The first vampire growled.

"Come on. Compel her and let's go."

The one holding you up, lifted his head to meet your gaze. He forced you to stare him in the eye as his eyes turned gold. Your mind was racing, but you relaxed in his grip, forcing yourself to breath deeply and calm your racing heart. These vampires obviously didn't know about you, they thought you could be compelled. You could use that to your advantage.

"Don't fight." The vampire commanded, his gaze bearing deep into yours. "Come with us willingly."

You forced your shoulders to relax and for your face to go blank. You weren't sure if you were supposed to answer him, hoping that you were acting hypnotized enough. You were slowly lowered to the ground and you had to pinch your leg to keep yourself from gasping for air once he released your neck. You fought the instinct for your hands to fly up to your neck and instead remained stoic and calm, staring straight ahead, unseeing.

"Let's go." The first vampire beckoned for you to follow. You obeyed, walking a safe distance behind him. the second vampire appeared behind you and you swallowed hard. You closed your fist around the pencils in your waistbands. You had the element of surprise, but you weren't sure if you could move fast enough.

You took a deep breath and jumped into action. You whirled around and pounced on the vampire behind you. He exclaimed in surprise as you grabbed one of his shoulders, raised your other hand, holing the pencil, and plunged it into his neck. The vampire screamed and shoved you back. He stumbled and clutched at his neck as blood burst from the wound. You turned around, holding another pencil in your hand as the first vampire launched himself at you. He threw a fist out and you dodged it, grabbing his wrist with your free hand. You stabbed his wrist with the next pencil, and he cried out grabbing his arm.

You jumped back, pulling out another pencil and stared at the two writhing vampires for a second, before turning on your heel and sprinting away from the alley. You almost made it when you heard a whoosh of air behind you and a hand grabbed the back of your shirt, yanking you back. you screamed, falling backwards into the cold vice-like grip. You twisted, lifting the last pencil. You could feel the blood from the vampire's wound dripping onto your body as you struggled in his grip, trying to get free.

"You filthy humans think you're so smart." The vampire snarled. You saw a flash of teeth and you screamed, plunging your pencil blindly into what you hoped was the vampire's flesh. The vampire screamed and released you. You stumbled out of his grip and turned to see where you'd gotten him. Bile rose in your throat as you saw the vampire hunched over, clutching his face, the pencil protruding from his eye, blood spurting out of the wound.

You stumbled backward and fell down clumsily, mentally cursing yourself. You scrambled to your feet just as the second vampire, the one that you'd stabbed in the neck, had stood up. He yanked the pencil out of his throat and you nearly threw up at the sight. He planted a hand over the bleeding wound and turned to face you.

You gasped and turned to run, but it was too late. He appeared in front of you and clasped a blood-stained hand around your neck. You gasped as he started to squeeze, anger blazing in his red eyes. He snarled, pulling his lips back to show off his teeth and you somehow knew this was it. You had no more pencils or anything wooden around you. Against two immortal super strong vampires, you never stood a chance. You sardonically hoped they would try to feed on you so they would be poisoned for their trouble after killing you.

Suddenly, his hand was ripped away, and you crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath. In a blur of motion, you watched in awe as the vampire was thrown backwards at least ten feet. The vampire slammed against the wall with a sickening crunch. You winced as he fell to the ground and stood back up, completely unbothered. You looked around for your savior when you saw the last person you expected standing in front of you.

Taehyung's eyes were blazing and red as he growled, his fangs flashing against the darkness of the night. The two other vampires slowly stood and faced Taehyung together. The one was bleeding from his eye, and you had to look away before you vomited at the sight. Taehyung snarled, flexing and relaxing his fists at his sides. You tried to crawl away from the scene, hoping to maybe make a quick getaway.

You stood back up and stumbled backward. Suddenly, a pair of hands wrapped around your wrists and you gasped, jerking back into defense-mode. You yanked your wrists free, but the hand just grabbed your shoulders instead. You made a growling noise in your throat and swung your elbow back, catching your assailant in what you hoped was their head.

"Ow," You heard a familiar mutter behind you. You whipped around and lifted your fists. You faltered when Jungkook's face came into view. He rubbed his jaw where you'd hit him and gave you an annoyed scowl. "It's just me, you psycho." He ground out. You relaxed a bit, but still held up your guard. You noticed Jimin standing a little ways back, his eyes hard as he stared at vampire standoff behind you.

"What are you doing here?" You demanded, jerking away from Jungkook. Jungkook rolled his eyes.

"Apparently saving your sorry ass." He muttered, walking around you casually. You turned around to watch as Jungkook went to stand next to Taehyung. Jimin appeared next to you and touched your shoulder, looking you up and down. He gave you a soft smile.

"Leave this to us," He said with a wink. He stepped in between Jungkook and Taehyung and crossed his arms.

"Hunting at a public university? Not being very subtle, are you?" Jimin said to the two vampires. He cracked a smile when he saw the state that they were in. Both of them were bleeding from various placed where you'd stabbed them, and one was even limping from being thrown against the wall.

"She really did a number on you." Jimin taunted with a sneer. The first vampire snarled and straightened his back.

"She's ours. We got her fair and square." He growled.

"Not this one. She's protected." Jimin snapped, his voice going dark and threatening. You shivered.

"Protected? The hell are you talking about? We were hired to take her back with us."

"We don't have to explain anything. She's protected."

"Is it because she broke out of compulsion? Is that why?"

Jimin glanced back at you and narrowed his eyes. You hugged yourself and frowned in confusion. You had no idea what was happening or what they were talking about. It was then that you noticed Taehyung and Jungkook were both holding scary-looking wooden stakes in each hand. Both were about the diameter of a thin flagpole and about a foot and a half in length. You swallowed hard as Jimin nodded to both of them.

Jungkook and Taehyung both marched forwards, holding up the stakes. The cornered vampires turned to run, but Jungkook and Taehyung grabbed them before they could run off. There was a scuffle, and you gasped as Jungkook raised the stake over his head and plunged it into one vampire's body, straight through his heart. It took Taehyung a few more seconds, but he stuck his vampire too. You gasped as the two vampires slumped to the ground and turned a sickly shade of grey, their eyes going white and glassy.

You gaped at the dead vampires slumped on the ground as the three remaining vampires turned to face you. Jimin stepped forward and reached his arms out to take your shoulder. You immediately swatted his arms away and stepped back, glaring at him. Jimin quirked an eyebrow at your reaction and dropped his arms.

"You killed them." You said softly, staring at the two bodies behind them.

"They knew about you. They knew about your abilities. They had to die." Jimin replied, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. You shook your head.

"They didn't know about me. They tried to compel me before." You protested, feeling an intense throbbing in your head. You winced at the pain and lifted a hand to try to steady it.

"Which obviously didn't work, so they became a liability." Jimin snapped. You flinched and looked back up at him, trying to ignore the throbbing.

"Well, whoever hired them knew about me. Why would they take me anywhere?" You asked, lifting your hand up to steady your head. Now the adrenaline was subsiding, the injuries that you no doubt had were starting to hurt. Your neck felt tight and your voice was hoarse, and you were pretty sure you had a large bump on the back of your head from being slammed against the wall.

"It's pretty obvious now, your secret's out, Y/N. You're going to have to come with us." Jimin said calmly, raising his eyebrows at you. You stiffened.

"Come with you? Again? Where? Also, what was that nonsense about me being 'protected'?" You demanded, taking a half-step back. Jimin shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Lazarus asked us to keep an eye on you, just in case. He was right, obviously. So, I say again, you need to come with us." His eyes hardened as he gave you a pointed stare. You shook your head.

"I don't want to go anywhere with you." You mumbled, taking another step back. After having been attacked by vampires, the last thing you wanted was to go with more vampires. As far as you were concerned, they were all dangerous and deadly and you wanted no part of it.

"Tough. We have our orders and if you don't want to get ambushed again without some backup, then you'll come quietly." Taehyung snarled, reaching out to latch a hand around your arm.

You tried pulling out of his grip, but he yanked you closer to him instead. You stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk and fell right into his chest. You felt heat in your cheeks and a strange churning in your stomach that was a mix of embarrassment and disgust. You shoved yourself back, but his grip on your arm didn't falter. You looked up at him with a scowl to see his eyes were slightly clouded over. He breathed in deeply and his eyes fluttered slightly.

"You're bleeding." He said gruffly. When he opened his eyes again, you were horrified to see they had turned red. You tried to yank yourself away, but his grip was like iron.

"Let go of me, asshole." You snarled, using your free elbow to slam on his arm, hoping to loosen his grip a bit. It did, and you twisted yourself free, stumbling back. Your hands flew to your head, touching the back where the painful throbbing was coming from. There was a huge knot on the back of your head and your hair was damp and matted. You removed your hand and looked down at your blood-stained fingers, confirming his statement. You glared at Taehyung, who shook his head, squeezed them shut, and then reopened them, returning to black.

"Y/N, just come with us, okay? I know this isn't ideal, but we are your only chance of being survival. It won't take long for whoever hired these two to send more vampires after you." Jimin stated, running a hand through his hair. He looked both exasperated and amused, which was an odd combination. You sighed, looking back at the two dead bodies.

"What about them?" You asked, nodding at them.

"They'll disintegrate in about an hour. It'll be like they never existed." Jimin said with a shrug. He stepped forward and took your elbow, leading you away from the bodies.

Jungkook suddenly appeared next to you, holding your backpack. You took it from him and slung it over your shoulder. As the three vampires led you out of the alley, you couldn't help but glance back at the dead vampires, sprawled on the concrete. Did you feel bad about their deaths? You knew that you shouldn't, considering they were going to kidnap you and deliver you to some unknown employer who was probably going to kill you. And yet, it still felt wrong. Killing of any kind felt wrong, even if they were undead monsters.

"How did you hurt them?" Jimin asked, drawing your attention back.

"What?" You asked, confused. Jimin looked you dead in the eye, which made a chill shoot down your spine.

"They were injured when we got there. How did you do that?" He asked again. You blinked in realization and swallowed hard. You looked down and wrung your fingers together, feeling a little embarrassed. Pencils didn't seem like the most effective weapon and seemed a little silly now.

"I used pencils." You muttered softly. Jimin blinked at you in disbelief and then tilted his head back and laughed loudly.

"Wow, you're pretty scrappy, aren't you? I'm not sure how many other humans would have been able to hold their own against two vampires for as long as you did." He said with a twinkle of pride in his eyes. You felt your stomach swell and you gritted your teeth, quickly looking away.

"I'm a foster kid." You said tersely. "I learned how to fight and how to take a punch pretty early." You added, flexing and relaxing your fists. Jimin nodded and looked to the others, who all had matching expressions of surprise and interest.

"I'm sure you did." He said with a small smirk.