Even though this chapter may be pretty boring, it does hold some clues to Taehyung's past and what he does, so I recommend you to read pretty carefully.

Also, Thank you so much for 300 reads!! 💖💖

VI: Jungkook 

When I walked into the reading room, the first thing I saw was Jimin and Baekhyun playing a game of Othello on beanbag chairs. They almost looked like two humans simply enjoying a good game, but the sharp fangs and pitch-black clothing said otherwise. As I got closer, I could hear their conversation.

"I believe I win." Baekhyun said, putting down a white circle next to Jimin's black.

"Not quite, Baekhyun." Jimin tallied up the points on a pad and smirked in Baekhyun's direction. "This game goes to me."

I thought Baekhyun was going to try and vaporize Jimin right out of his beanbag with his amber eyes, but he just sighed, as if he was used to getting beaten by his friend.

He then turned in my direction, looking me up and down.

"Oh look, he's alive," Baekhyun said disdainfully. "To be quite honest, I was kind of hoping that you were dead." I frowned. Even for Baekhyun, that seemed a little too much.

Unless...

"Don't be rude just because you lost a bet, Baekie," Jimin chided, holding out his hand as Baekhyun dug out three gold coins from his pocket with a sigh. He plopped them into Jimin's waiting hand, and the latter pocketed them with a smug smile. "I told you; Taehyung would never disintegrate his soulmate."

"Hold up. You guys bet if I was going to live or not?" I asked, annoyed. Baekhyun shrugged. "What else did you expect us to do while we waited?"

"I don't know... finish your game? Go on missions? Read a book?" I stretched my arms wide, indicating towards the towering bookshelves which filled the room. "You guys are in a library for heaven's sake! Do something more productive than betting on my life!"

"Betting on your life is productive," Baekhyun pointed out. "Humans have such a short lifespan, that you never know when they'll die. It's quite amusing, actually." He smiled, and I had the sudden urge to remind him about Fuzzy Wuzzy. But Jimin's voice distracted me.

"And... Jungkook," Jimin licked his lips. "I would be more careful invoking the name of the Great Above, if I were you."

"The Great Above? You mean heaven?" Jimin winced. "Yes, the H word. Vampires are naturally creatures of darkness and blood. To us, the Great Above is almost like an enemy, with all its light and happiness. Not many of us would look kindly to you using the H word in any context, good or bad. Instead, we call it the Great Above."

"The Great Above... fine." I sighed. "Anything else I should know about before I accidentally offend any more vampires?"

Jimin shrugged. "Not really. We're really not that picky with words. Now," he got comfortable in his blue beanbag. "Tell us all about what happened in there." Even Baekhyun seemed interested, looking at me through narrowed eyes.

I hesitated. "I guess I almost died," I started out slowly, ignoring Baekhyun's mumbles of, 'Almost, isn't good enough.'

"I accidentally fell into the void, and Taehyung had to help me out. He also explained the concepts of soulmates, and..." my voice caught in my throat. "He said that I was his soulmate."

Jimin nodded. "That you are."

"But how?" I blurted out. "How can a human like me be destined to be with a Vampire King like him? I just don't get it."

"Fate acts in unpredictable ways, Jungkook," Jimin explained. "Sometimes, you just can't end up with the person you want to be with. And I'll be the first person to admit that never in a million years would I have thought Taehyung would end up with a human. It's a very very rare occurrence, even for a simple vampire with no titles. But for a king to have a human as a soulmate is practically unheard of. Let's just say that you guys are a very special case."

"But wouldn't it make his kingdom stronger if he had a vampire as a mate?" I argued. "Why is he keeping me when he can have every vampire in the world by his side?"

Jimin facepalmed. "How can you be so dense? He loves you Jungkook! It may be hard to believe, but it's true." He smiled up at me. "I remember when we first found you in the human world. He was in a state of ecstasy for a whole week straight. He could barely do his work without talking about you every five minutes! I finally had to hit him on the head with a slipper to make him shut up."

I promise that I will protect you. I love you, and I hope that in time, you will love me back. Taehyung's words echoed in my head, and I blushed. I had never been loved so strongly before in my entire life, not even by my parents. It was a new feeling, but one which I liked. The feeling of being loved by someone was one of the best in the world.

"I agree with Jimin on this one," Baekhyun spoke up unexpectedly. "I've never seen the King look so happy in all the 300 years I've been with him. He probably does love you very much. I have to admit, I don't exactly trust you yet, human," he turned to look at me, but his expression was soft. "But if anyone can make our King delighted, it's you."

I smiled at both of them, gratified by their support for me. "Thanks guys. I'm glad you think that way."

"Anytime Jungkook," Jimin said, standing up and dusting off his pants. "Now, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Well, Taehyung told me that you can show me around the castle, and introduce me to some of the staff. Is that okay?"

"Sure," Jimin nodded, and set off towards the library door, with me following. "You coming Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun shook his head. "Nope. I'm going to let you handle this one. I'll be here if you need me. Oh," his amber eyes sharpened. "If you see Chanyeol anywhere tell him that I'm here. He better have a good explanation for going on a mission without telling me." His words were stern, but a smile was starting to form on his lips.

"Fine. Though I want no part in your arguments. Last time was quite enough." Jimin muttered, exiting the room and walking down the marble hallway.

"Who's Chanyeol?" I asked, hurrying to catch up with Jimin's brisk steps. "Baekhyun's soulmate," Jimin answered. "He's been on a mission for one day, and Baekhyun already misses him, even though he'll never admit it."

"Baekhyun has a soulmate?" I would never have expected such a bad-tempered hedgehog to have a partner.

"Yup. And Chanyeol is a really sweet person. Only fate knows why those two were put together. Though I have to admit, they do make a pretty cute couple."

"Do you have a soulmate?" I asked, and Jimin smiled, silver eyes glittering. "Yes, I do. His name is Min Yoongi, and he's one of the commanding officers for the army. Right now, he's supervising the construction of some safe house on the southern border, but you'll probably meet him sooner or later."

While we were walking, Jimin made a flicking motion with his hand, not unlike the gesture Taehyung had made back in the throne room. Instantly, the bolt iron doors in front of us opened with a creak. We stepped through it into a room just as large and exquisite as the last, with black marble pillars reaching high towards the domed ceiling, and many paintings hanging on the walls. There was not one piece of furniture in this room; most of the available space being taken up by statues and busts.

"Can you do magic?" I asked, open mouthed as Jimin flicked his hands again to close the door behind us.

"Huh?" He looked down at his hands, then laughed. "Oh, this isn't magic. It's simply that I have control over the borders which separate one room from the next. You have it to, though of course, some rooms are restricted."

"Me?" I stared at my hands. At first, they looked the same as always, but then I noticed a small inked tattoo on my wrist, half hidden by the white sleeves. It was shaped like the thorns of a rose and pitch black. I caressed it, impressed by its simplicity but attractiveness.

"Go on, try it," Jimin urged, leading me over to the cast-iron door we had just walked through. Closing my eyes, I tried flicking my wrist in the same motion as Jimin had done.

Nothing.

I looked over at my friend, and saw him trying to stifle a laugh. "Don't worry," he said, "It takes time to get the hang of it. One trick that helped me, was that when you flick your wrist, think of taking a key and actually opening the door. Think of the hand motions you would make when you grip the door handle."

Closing my eyes once again, I concentrated on the faint pull between my hand and the door, imagining myself actually walking over there and putting a key in its lock.

Bang! The door swung open, and Jimin clapped.

"Ow!"

Oops.

I had managed to open the door, but with too much force, so that it struck someone on the other side straight in the face.

A girl stepped out, holding her nose and grimacing. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" I gasped, bowing several times, cheeks red from shame. The girl held up a hand, waving off my apology.

"Don't worry about it," she said, one hand still on her nose. "I guess this is your first time, huh?" I nodded, looking down at the ground. The girl finally removed her hand, and I was glad to see that her nose wasn't bleeding.

She had long brown hair reaching down to her waist, and large dark brown eyes with long lashes. Her pink lips were stretched into a smile, and she had the straightest bangs I had ever seen. Even with the pain in her nose, her eyes were laughing.

"Hi Lisa," Jimin greeted, waving a hand in the girl's direction. "Sorry about the door. I was teaching Jungkook how to open them, and I think he got a bit carried away." He winked at me.

"No, it's fine," Lisa said, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smiling at me. "I remember when I first started learning that trick. I accidentally smacked Baekhyun in the face so hard, that he got a really bad nosebleed. He refused to go anywhere near me for a week after that, saying that doors and I were a dangerous combination."

I giggled, imagining Baekhyun's expression as he saw an iron door swinging in his direction at full speed. Lisa grinned, extending her hand in greeting. I quickly took it and shook it, bowing one more time.

"So, Jungkook, you're the human my brother moons over, correct? I've heard so much about you, and it's nice to finally meet you in person!" Lisa gushed.

"Brother?" My eyes widened. "You're Taehyung's sister?" Lisa nodded, bangs not moving an inch. "Yup. I'm his younger sister, and he never let's me forget it!"

Turning to Jimin, she asked, "I was just about to go to the kitchen to get a bite to eat. Do you guys want to come?"

"Sure," Jimin agreed. He looked at me. "Do you want to go?"

I nodded, but my attention was soon caught by the paintings on the walls. They were just too beautiful to ignore. Each had a person standing in the middle, sometimes just a man or woman, but most times an entire family of vampires. All wore beautiful clothes and suits, usually black, and many of the women's hair was done up in impressive hairstyles. Yet none of them were smiling, not even the children. They all looked stone-faced in the paintings, and even their eyes seemed bland. Either the artist couldn't get the eyes right, or all those people were natural non-smilers.

Jimin moved to my right, admiring the paintings with me. "These all depict the royal line of vampires." He said. "It goes back thousands of years, but every single vampire who ever ruled the Sirius pack is here, painted by the same artist."

"What's that painting supposed to be," I asked, pointing at a frame on the far wall completely covered with black silk, so that the portrait couldn't be seen. I felt Jimin tense beside me. "That... that painting was a mistake," he mumbled. "It wasn't meant to be seen. Taehyung had it veiled once he became ruler." Lisa shook her head, opening her mouth to speak, but Jimin looked pointedly at her. They had a glaring contest for a minute, before Lisa finally looked away.

I stifled a sigh. It seemed that this whole place revolved around secrets which I would never learn. But before Jimin could usher us out of the room, I took one last glance back at the veiled painting, and I could have sworn that the upper left corner lifted up just a tiny bit, revealing a vibrant shade of red. Then the veil went down, and the colors were again replaced with the neutral black.

I let Jimin and Lisa lead me again through the twisting and turning hallways, until we got to a pair of iron doubleset doors, which Jimin opened with a snap of his fingers.

"Behold, the kitchen!" Jimin spread his arms and paused dramatically. I stepped in and looked around. It looked like almost any other large kitchen, with hundreds of pots and pans hanging on the walls, and large airy windows. Even if it was the most normal thing I had seen so far, Jimin looked very proud of it, so I mumbled something properly awestruck.

Just then, I heard a voice coming from the back.

"Jimin, is that you?" A tall, handsome man stepped out from behind the pans, cleaning a pink spatula with a wet towel. "I thought I heard your voice!"

"Jin!" Jimin smiled. "Long time no see!" Turning back to me, he introduced us. "Jungkook, this is Seokjin, our cook and part time medic. Jin, this is Jungkook, Taehyung's soulmate."

"Taehyung's soulmate huh?" Jin asked, as he shook my hand. "Well, you've got a lot on your hands, Jungkook, let me just tell you that. Taehyung can be quite a handful sometimes." He smiled, showing perfect white teeth. "Anyways, you can call me Jin, everyone does."

"Oh. Well, hi Jin. Nice to meet you," I greeted. Suddenly, Jin narrowed his eyes. I frowned. Had I done something wrong already?

"When was the last time you ate?" Jin asked me, looking me up and down. His words made me realize how long I had gone without food. As if on cue, my stomach grumbled and Lisa laughed. "About two days," I muttered, blushing.

Jin's eyes widened. "Two days?" He turned his gaze on Jimin, angrily pointing his pink spatula directly at his chest. "Park Jimin! You let this poor human go a whole 48 hours without food? Don't you know that they're a delicate species? No wonder Jungkook looks so hungry!" He turned to look at me, and I gulped. Jin with a spatula was scarier than I thought he would be.

Ushering me onto one of the numerous seats behind the countertop, Jin promised to cook me something to give me energy, then disappeared again into the back of the kitchen. Jimin and Lisa started to talk about training tactics together, so I busied myself by surveying the room.

While looking around, I noticed a small wooden door to my right, half hidden by the towering stack of pots and pans. It was the most normal door I had seen since coming here, being made of plain wood instead of obsidian or gold. But what was interesting about it, was that it had a pinwheel shaped object connected to it by a metal wire, separated into four colors: red, green, yellow, and black. It looked a bit out of place amid all the large iron doors and marble work, but was still somehow intriguing to me. Standing out of my chair, I went to look at the door more closely. On closer inspection I saw that there was a small metal arrow at the top of the pinwheel, currently stationed on the red. It didn't seem to be moving anytime soon.

"Where does this door lead to?" I asked Jimin, who was still engaged in a conversation with Lisa. Turning around, he stared at the door for a second, then his eyes grew wide. Even Lisa seemed to pale a little bit.

"That door..." Jimin mumbled. "That door is something you should never go through. Especially on the black." He almost sounded like he was talking to himself. "The red, the green, even the yellow is fine, but not the black."

"Jimin," Lisa scolded, nervously glancing in my direction. "I don't think he understands what you're saying."

"Oh, sorry." Jimin shook his head to clear it. "The point is, don't go through it. It's not like you'll be able to, but just don't." He looked me right in the eye. "You might be curious to see what happens, but take my word for it. You'll regret it."

I nodded slowly. It scared me, seeing Jimin so serious. Just then, Jin walked in with heaping trays of food, and my stomach took over. Eat, my brain said, Think later. I decided to listen to my brain.

While I ate, I glanced back at the innocent looking wooden door. Then at the pinwheel next to it. If it was as bad as Jimin said it was, who used it? And why was it here?

So this is door which Jungkook saw (just ignore all the stuff around it):

If you've watched the movie "Howl's Moving Castle", you probably already know what it does... 

(The close-up of the pinwheel)

And also the picture of Jungkook's tatoo. Just imagine it on the wrist rather than the hand.

Until next time!