Mild smut towards the end of the chapter!

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To save money, Wooyoung decided they could share a room. Aside from his family, Hongjoong had never roomed with anyone before, so he was nervous when he followed Wooyoung into the chamber, but the other vampire assured him.

"We're both men, and you don't have to be afraid of me. Top or bottom bunk?"

"I'll take the bottom," Hongjoong mumbled, not trusting the wobbly wooden frame that held the two mattresses together. Wooyoung gladly took the view from the top.

They didn't go to bed immediately. Wooyoung wanted to calculate their finances to make sure they wouldn't run out of money during the middle of their trip. Since it was Hongjoong's contract, he was supposed to stem the travel costs, but Wooyoung gladly offered to pay for a meal here and there.

They sat there for about an hour. Talking about money and travel. Hongjoong trusted Wooyoung's smooth voice as he forged their travel plans and he was glad to be with someone on his way back, even if he could have marched through the night alone like last time.

However, the more time he spent with Wooyoung in that narrow room, the more his mind wandered. Hongjoong kept getting distracted by Wooyoung's neck and collarbones, exposed by his partly open shirt after he washed up. His sweet scent filled the corners of the room and made Hongjoong's throat itchy. It had got worse in the past weeks. Made him duck away when he felt dizzy from it, as if he might pass out.

When Wooyoung finally decided their matters as settled, Hongjoong just about held his mouth shut with his hand. He played it off, pretending to scratch himself, but he was salivating behind his fingers.

This was dangerous. The blood hunger was increasing the more time passed, and he was even ready to bite a fellow vampire now. When Wooyoung tilted his head at his weird behaviour, the line of his tan skin looked delectable.

"I'm going on a little walk before bed. Will you be fine alone?" Hongjoong brought out as he stumbled to his knees and Wooyoung swung himself into his bunk with a lazy grin.

"Always have been. Be quiet when you come back in."

"Of course." With that, Hongjoong dashed toward the door. He shut it behind him, leaving Wooyoung in his cloying cloud of sweetness.

How was he supposed to deal with this on the daily? In a narrow space, the hunger was overwhelming. What if Hongjoong fell asleep and woke up with his teeth buried in someone's neck? What if he bit a human and doomed them to the same fate?

His fear drove him out of the tavern and to the docks, where the clear air filled his lungs instead. It was deep night now, and only shady figures were still out and about. Hongjoong wasn't afraid of them. He was the worst predator of all.

He breathed the salty sea air and calmed himself to the sight of the rushing ocean and the starry sky. Soothing, and still the same sight as when he had been human.

When steps neared, he turned his head on alert, but the man who approached him was familiar. It was the big man from the tavern earlier, and he lifted his empty hands in a gesture of peace when he drew near.

"Look who it is. Cute little vampire fledgling," he noted as he stopped at a polite distance.

How much did he know? Did he know of the hunger? How tormenting it was? His yellow eyes looked frightening in the dim light of the street lanterns, but his grin was good-natured.

Hongjoong wrapped his arms around his body even when he wasn't cold. The wind tugged on his hair with its frigid bite.

"What you said earlier... How could you smell me? What do I smell like?" He asked, subtly sniffing on his shoulder, but he couldn't pick up on anything else but the scent of the ocean.

The stranger breathed in the air as well. His exhale was slow, found the right words immediately.

"Death and graves. Rotting roses and wet earth. Humans can't tell, but I can," he hummed, pinpointing an aspect Hongjoong never thought about. His scent would be different from the musk and sweat of humans. But if no human could smell it, did that mean...?

"So you're also not human?"

The stranger grinned at him again. This time, Hongjoong caught the flash of his long canines. Of a few too many teeth in his jaw.

Startled, he took a step back, but the man shrugged casually.

"I'm a wolf."

Nervously, Hongjoong peered back at the tavern. He was alone, and everyone was wiser than to follow a scream in the darkest night. Should he run back to Wooyoung for help? He knew of the many tales of the eternal hatred between the vampires and the werewolves. Natural enemies, they had methods to kill one another no human had.

"So when you said you know vampires... Did you kill them?" Hongjoong whispered in dread. He didn't choose to become this. Didn't want to make enemies.

But the man with him remained casual despite giving himself away. The smile on his lips was friendly, like that of a human.

"No, no, never. Well, some of us have bad blood with each other, but not me. I like to give vampires a good time." His grin broadened, but Hongjoong was still spooked, and he grew up rather sheltered with religious parents.

"What do you mean?"

The wolf threw his head back with laughter.

"Hah! You must have lived life as a saint. You are immortal now, lad. Were you never curious what it would feel like? No pain. No exhaustion. Just bliss. I met some rather creative vampires in my time. They like to push their boundaries. Like the rush of power they can't get from doing humans. Did you drink out your boy from earlier? You could play with a real man now. I can be gentle if it's your first time."

Mortified, Hongjoong snapped his head around to stare across the water. Though inexperienced, he heard his fair share of stories, had spotted a few pirates out on the streets pushing their hands below the garments of their favourite wenches. Though he wasn't extremely devoted to his faith, Hongjoong always intended to live an honourable life. Earn money, have a wife and children and tend to them until they tended to him. It was easy. Everyone around him exemplified that lifestyle for him.

But here he was, standing at the docks with a werewolf. No longer human. No longer in any position to father children or kiss a wife without killing her.

The sadness that washed over him no longer reached his dead heart, but it echoed with the same pain. It felt empty. Hopeless. Was there any human experience that still applied to him? He could pretend, but could he ever make himself believe he was normal?

Hongjoong lowered his eyes. He didn't share this hopelessness with the stranger. Not all was lost. Once they found the vampire who sired him, they might find a way to reverse this curse. Get revenge, answers, anything.

"No. He's my friend. And I'm not a vampire," Hongjoong whispered to himself. He needed these delusions to hold on to life. Because otherwise, it was just too depressing. An eternity of blood-thirst and rage. A werewolf just asked him to fool around, so casual about it. But no rush of power exhilarated Hongjoong. He didn't want to be considered one of them. That was the last thing he wanted.

The wolf just watched him with pity on his brow. He could guess that Hongjoong didn't choose this life and that he was lost in all this change. Perhaps he knew vampires who weren't as bad, just like this wolf wasn't as bad as others of his kind.

But what was the point? Hongjoong was no longer human, could no longer have a regular marriage or friendships or even a job. He was doomed to wander the shadows and other creatures would recognise him as their own.

Hongjoong bit his lip.

The reminders were everywhere. If he returned to the room, he would smell Wooyoung and hunger for him, even as a fellow vampire.

He was a monster.

"Um... But does it feel good?" Hongjoong whispered, still shy but hollow in the place where his heart once made him nervous and anxious. So what if he gambled? So what if he indulged in this darkness?

That was who he was now, wasn't it?

"I would hope so. Whatever you like, lad. I can hold you down and make you forget you're a vampire, if that's what you want. And you would not feel a stab of pain."

The werewolf shrugged, not questioning Hongjoong, and he promised a good time. This person asked no questions. He accepted who he was and made the best out of it.

Hongjoong hated knowing he was a vampire, but the human Hongjoong was dead. Gone until he found a cure. Would he ever be the same again after all this? Would he ever get to have a human job and a human family?

The thoughts all became overwhelming. Spinning like a vortex of his own despair.

Yes, Hongjoong wanted to forget. This wolf didn't smell appetising to him at all, his scent buried under layers of forest and wood and leather and the faint smell of wet dog.

Hongjoong made his decision.

"Then..." He bravely stepped closer to the massive man, tiptoeing to sling his arms around his neck. "I would like to forget," Hongjoong whispered, tormented by his being.

The man reacted immediately, wrapping his arms around Hongjoong's waist.

"Not a problem. Name's Yunho," he mumbled, before he dipped in, kissing hotly at Hongjoong's neck and for the first time in a while, Hongjoong felt something. Felt the heat, the tingle of the touch. There was danger in the wolf's teeth so close, but Hongjoong felt safe.

The wolf guided him. They didn't exchange more information, didn't dawdle on specific instructions. When Yunho carried Hongjoong into the shadow of the buildings to undress him and warm his cold flesh with his heated touch, their sighs were mutual. He laughed when Hongjoong's legs gave in as soon as the wolf knelt before him to kiss him where no other had kissed him before. Called him adorable.

"I'm inexperienced, so..." Hongjoong apologised to him, but he was simply hoisted up instead as the wolf dipped his large palms between his thighs to touch places not even Hongjoong had touched. His stubble tickled Hongjoong's jaw when the wolf skimmed his teeth over his ear.

"Just go with the flow."

So they did. And Hongjoong indeed forgot anything else. It was exhilarating, these touches, these sensations. He explored the body of another man for the first time, got shy when their middles brushed and Hongjoong realised how small he was in comparison to the wolf. When his body was breached for the first time by a finger, he keened into the night, pressing back against the odd but wonderful feeling.

Yunho was gentle, as he promised. He didn't bite Hongjoong, didn't force him to do anything. Instead, he took his time to teach him what he liked, to realise he quivered when his nipples were tugged on and that his hips started moving somewhere down the line when pleasure drove his movements.

Once he was prepared enough, the wolf placed him back on the ground to have him brace against the wall to hold himself up. The heat of his hard rod was frightening, seemed too obscenely big, but somehow, it entered Hongjoong and made him see stars. A big hand stifled his sounds and kept his jaw locked so he wouldn't bite when Hongjoong was reamed open by the massive wolf, shuddered from his growling at his ear.

Hongjoong couldn't think. He wasn't in pain, wasn't exhausted. The bliss kept him euphoric as the wolf took him and his mind was a blank space to be filled with the joy of their moment. It didn't feel as dirty as Hongjoong feared. In a way, it was right. He had no more need to worry.

The wolf pulled out before he would come inside him and they used their hands to complete one another. Panted harshly with their lips so close but not attaching to each other in a kiss. Hongjoong's legs quivered as Yunho helped him get dressed afterwards and grinned a goodbye.

Morning dawned by the time Hongjoong snuck back into the inn. Wooyoung was fast asleep and snoring, despite the night still shrouding them with safety. Hongjoong pulled the shutters shut before he quietly crawled into his nest, exhausted enough to find some rest without thinking about being a vampire any longer.