"Halo, darling. Care for a little break? I know a nice spot down by the river."

Wooyoung lifted his head to find the woman who addressed him. She was leaning against a building on the other side of the road, one leg propped up against the wall to expose a bare knee under her ruched skirt enticingly. Her bright red blouse dipped low, hugging her full bosom and her upper arms, leaving her shoulders bare. She was a beautiful thing with a gorgeous head full of brown curls. Her smirk was both playful and confident.

"Later perhaps, bonnie. I'm working right now." Still, he came over to caress his finger along her cheek, complimenting the effort of her dark-rimmed eyes and the irresistible red pout of her lips.

"You're missing out," she replied in a dreamy sigh when she breathed his scent, took in his appearance. But Wooyoung just smirked at her before he dipped into the alley behind her and wandered through the shadows instead.

His favourite pub was up ahead. A bustling building at this time of evening. Warm lights bathed the seating area in a homey glow and the laughter of drunken patrons greeted Wooyoung from a distance. It was the main meeting spot every night and almost every soul of their quaint village gathered here. The men got to ogle the beautiful waitresses or had their own girls on their laps like trophies. Beer and ale flowed in buckets and some musicians funded their meal for the night with merry tunes from violins and concertinas.

Wooyoung wove through the crowd, politely rejecting the drinks and flirtations offered to him. Usually, he wouldn't say no to a night of merrymaking, to waking up in the morning without recollection about who he jumped into bed with and how long they did it, but he was on a hunt today. Waking up next to a beauty had to wait.

"Give me half a pint. Uisge-beatha," Wooyoung called, and the barkeep recognised him when Wooyoung shuffled up. His hands flew across his counter so easily, blurring in the haze. It smelled sweet in here, like opium, and Wooyoung saw the women going around with long pipes to offer their select few rich customers.

"Feasgar math, Wooyoung. Here so early?" The owner asked him as Wooyoung leaned against the worn wood of the counter. His drink slipped into his hand, and he took a hearty gulp.

"Gotta make some money. Any postings?"

The man glimpsed right and left. Made sure no curious ears were listening before he pulled a piece of paper from below the counter. He slid it over its sticky surface to face Wooyoung.

"Some lad came in earlier, lookin' as if the devil 'imself 'unted 'im. Reckoned 'im a habitant but there been somethin' in 'is deadlights I can nay quite describe. Shudders down me spine."

"Interestin'," Wooyoung hummed in response as he studied the piece of parchment. The scrawled handwriting about matched the description of insanity from the barkeep. Usually elegant cursive strokes trembled with stress or fear. A man from money, certainly. Seeking to regain his riches?

The actual posting was much more ridiculous and if not for the handwriting, Wooyoung would have thought it an uninspired scheme by a monster hunter who was too lazy to do his work.

I require the guidance of a vampire for personal business. Pay will be good. I won't spill your secret if you don't spill mine.

He suggested an exorbitant amount of money, a thousand sovereigns, as payment. Not the money of a royal, but definitely more than any person around here could afford. Granted, he didn't give any proper instructions on the job or how much time it would take to complete, but this just smelled like some poor bastard gone mad and wasting his riches.

Wooyoung's interest was ignited.

"Did 'e mention where 'e 'ailed from?" Wooyoung asked, but the barkeep shook his head, in disbelief himself. This wasn't the first posting for creatures of the underworld they found. Occasionally, they even got picked up by those asked for. But most of those beings wouldn't show their faces to strangers willingly. Wooyoung encountered a few in his time, and they slipped into hiding rather than showing off what they were. All too often, hunters and clerics set their traps this way.

"Said nothin' but I asked the ferryman while 'e was 'ere fer some grog. Said he picked up the lad in Tobermory."

The story got more and more odd and convoluted, but Wooyoung liked it. He sipped his drink as he pondered the scrawls of black ink on the paper.

Wooyoung was no vampire. He was human from the day he had been born, and he gladly stayed that way, even when he was often jealous of the superhuman abilities he witnessed on stray fae folk or werewolves.

But he was also hunted. A known rogue throughout Scotland and Ireland, his face adorned plenty of headhunting posters in larger towns. He escaped to this place since it was isolated and the people didn't bother each other so long as no one started a fight. That was the sole reason the selkies near the coast got to live and hunt in peace. As did Wooyoung.

People would call him a trickster, a fraud, even a petty thief from time to time. To Wooyoung, it was survival. He did odd jobs, but he didn't get people killed. His talent for lies and his beautiful face were natural weapons to him. Not his fault people kept falling for it.

This new job promised a great deal of fun. Wooyoung was curious about their odd visitor with the orderly wording, clearly originating from the south.

Couldn't be so hard to pretend to be a vampire, could it? Wooyoung was tan compared to the one dead vampire he witnessed burning in front of the church once as their local monster hunter finished his job. But his hair was black like the night, his charm often irresistible. What more was there to be?

"I'll check it out. Tapadh leibh," Wooyoung told the barkeep, and he nodded as he accepted Wooyoung's empty cup.

"Spy ye soon."

Wooyoung left the pub, warmed from the alcohol in his veins and the promise of money bunched in his fist. It was easy cash, but whoever posted on the board might just be the most unbearable madman. In that case, Wooyoung would empty his pockets and sneak away into the night. Then it would be even easier cash.

Not that Wooyoung needed some aristocrat chasing him down. He would work if he could, but if not, he knew how to go into hiding.

Merry feet skipped between the small houses of their village. Rose bushes and vines climbed along the old stone walls and it wasn't raining tonight, so the air was still warm from the long day.

No ferry would take him to the Isle of Mull this late in the evening, so Wooyoung beelined right through the alley he had come from. The girl still loitered against the house, bored since there were so few people around to seduce. She would find someone from the pub later, any man too drunk to think twice about the face of a beautiful woman hovering close.

But when Wooyoung marched her way, she perked up. A finger twirled her hair when she took in the sliver of his chest through his open shirt, his long legs.

"Back so soon? How was work?" She grinned triumphantly when he came over, bracing a hand against the wall by her side. She smelled like sweet perfume and cheap liquor, but the dazzle of light in her eyes was wide awake and excited when Wooyoung leaned in.

"A great success. Come back to my place and give me a little discount?" He purred at her, a master at this game, just like her. He nuzzled against her shoulder to blink his eyes up at her and her fingers caressed through his hair, pulling him closer to her bosom with a giggle. The warmth of her soft flesh was the softest of pillows and he fluttered his lashes at her, bending just a bit lower to nudge at the collar of her blouse, unveiling just a sliver more of her flesh teasingly.

Her laughter chimed like a bell in the evening.

"How could I say no?" she cooed at his antics and Wooyoung gladly took her hand to pull her along. They had seen each other a couple of times already, always in passing, as each was busy with their own work. She knew he liked to dash through the shadows, that his worn coat was often stained with mud from hiding in the most unfortunate of places.

But she liked that roguish charm as he brought her up the stairs to his room. He had rented out the ground floor of his birth home after his parents died to the black death, but the couple who lived there were out tonight and wouldn't mind their giggling as Wooyoung tugged his companion through the door.

They stumbled over their shoes in their haste to take them off and kiss at the same time. Her body was warm under his fingers as he pulled her close, stumbled his way to his bed. Wooyoung had few belongings since he was on the run so often, but this was his homiest place. Humble but comfortable, with a proper bed and closet.

The girl laughed when he playfully shoved her down on his nest. Her open hair curled around her head and the pillows as her breath had quickened, chest heaving with anticipation. Wooyoung shrugged off his coat before he knelt over her, burying his hands in her gorgeous mane to pull her into another kiss. His hands wandered lower, tugging her blouse down over her soft chest. She sighed when he kissed at the smooth skin there, not one to enjoy these moments alone.

It took him little effort to make her blossom all by herself. Her legs opening to wrap around his waist, needy bodies pressing close. Her noises were sweet as he gave her what she needed and she was more than keen to do the same for him.

They rolled around the pillows until late at night, giggling and exploring each other's bodies. She was curious about the scars on him, about the scruffs around his wrists that never healed from his time spent in prison. He didn't tell her the whole truth, making up stories to entertain her, and she allowed him, chuckling along to his jests.

When they finally fell asleep, he was slumbering against her soft chest, knew this was as pleasant as his evening would be in a long time. Soon, he had to find some madman who wanted a vampire and potentially sleep out on the street again.

When he rose in the morning, he tried to be quiet, but his companion stirred when his heat left her and she shivered before he could throw the blanket over her shoulders.

"Leaving already?" She hummed sleepily as she noticed him tying up the strings of his pants and slipping into his boots. It was a shame they didn't have more time, but Wooyoung didn't want to be distracted and lose the job to someone else. A real vampire, even.

"Taking a ferry to the Isle of Mull. You can sleep some more if you want. Just give the key to the neighbours downstairs. They'll know I'm gone," he offered as he soothed her pouting lips with a kiss and she had to grin at him. The blanket was tangled with her legs, exposing slivers of skin that had tasted so succulent. So easily luring him in for more.

"You're a dream," she sighed, and he shrugged his shirt over his shoulders when her lazy fingers trailed off his chest.

"What do I owe you?" He asked as he buttoned it shut, grabbed his assortment of belts to sling around his frame. He carried knives and a small gun, a pouch with herbs if he got injured, and his purse of coins.

But she waved him off before he could reach for the latter.

"Nothing, darling. Just see me again next time," she said and Wooyoung grinned back at her, happy if she was.

"I will."

"Haste ye back," she mumbled with a yawn before she pulled his blanket over her shoulder again and turned to the wall. Wooyoung grabbed his coat before he hurried down the stairs and to the port to go meet his mysterious new contractor.