Since she's less than a block away, its always a quick trip from Gerald's to Deja's building. She always steps quickly though, despite the short distance and how quiet the streets usually were around 4 am. It was smart to never assume anything just because things seemed safe or calm.

Mainly because you never knew who was lurking in the many shadows among the residences.

She enters her apartment and lets out her routine sigh of exhaustuion and releif, stepping out of her wet sneakers and setting her keys on the hook.

Greeting her at the door was her loyal companion, tail wagging like a helicopter at the sight of his owner.

"Oh my goodness! Hello Apollo! Hello..." Deja smiles, addressing the yipping Jack Russel terrier as she sheds her coat. After tossing her bag towards the couch, she crouches down to pick him up. Stroking his white and auburn spotted coat and kissing the tip of his black nose, she turns to lock her front door.

Deja loved the cozy little home she created for herself. It wasnt too small nor was it extravagant, but it was hers. Cream and burnt sienna color scheme mixed with earth tones and warm lighting. Timed release oil diffusers and fresh green plants cleansing the air of impurities and negativity. Dark wood floors accented with fuzzy carpeting. The tension of her day is easily forgotten the longer she immersed herself into the default mood in her apartment.

Walking in her ankle socks, Deja pads comfortably through her domain with Apollo tucked beneath her arm.

"What have you been up to today, hmm? Getting into shit?" she scratches the top of his head before bending to drop him against the floor. Immediately after his little paws hit the wood, he scurries between her legs towards the front door. He places his little paw against it before looking over at her with big pleading eyes ,wagging his tail.

Knowing what he wanted, Deja sighs.

"I just took off my shoes Lo...Really?" she pouts and the bouncing puppy only whines pitifully before scratching at the door again. Deja rolls her eyes and relents, knowing this wasnt a war she'd win.

Nature was calling and she would rather Apollo answer it outside on the sad little patch of grass just beyond her stoop than in her apartment.

Minutes later, Deja is sitting on
the bottom steps of her building. The blue handle for the extending leash is slotted between her fingers while Apollo frolics across the sidewalk, pausing to sniff at the ground on his way to the square of grass near the edge of the curb. The tree that thrived there was Apollo's territory and he made sure to pee in the same spot every time to ensure the neighbors knew it.

Waiting for him to find his preferred pooping spot, Deja yawns against the back of her hand. Blinking slowly, she feels the weight of her day finally catching up to her and finds herself nodding off a few times.

After her eyelids droop for the fifth time, the sound of Apollo's aggressive barking has her flinching into full alertness.

Pulling at the chord that connects his collar to the handle, Apollo is no longer on the grass but rounding the edge of the steps to bark viciously at something between her building and the one adjacent to it.

She scoffs at the discovery and pushes up from the steps to stand.

"Apollo! Hush all that noise!" she whispers sternly to her dog but it has no effect since he continues yipping aggressively.

His bark alternates into a tiny growl, puffing from his lips as he lowered his head.

Deep in the darkness on the yard-wide gap between buildings, something shuffles and stirs. Each movement has Apollo's erect ears twitching and his blue eyes zeroing in on something beyond any human could see.

He barks again, sounding much more irritated than before and Deja sighs as she steps down from the stoop.

"If you're not gonna poop then come on..." she grumbles as she approached him. She bends down to place her hand under his belly, scooping him up effortlessly. She then steals a glance at the thin space shrouded in shadows, furrowing her brow with unease before hiking Apollo higher against her hip.

"It's probably just a raccoon or something..." she concedes nervously, shaking off the eery chill that came over as she turned away.

The aroma therapy and soft guitar strumming flow into the bathroom, mixing with the steam and heat in the air that rose from the bathtub.

The cleansing shower was refreshing but this Epsom salt bubble bath was so needed. Her feet were almost numb and her legs were trembling from dancing in heels all night.

Deja originally planned to soak for hours but she felt it better to cut it short since she was so tired. It had only been 12 minutes before she was rising from the bath and reaching for her robe.

Still wet with water dripping down her spine, Deja stands before her body-sized mirror that's propped against the wall in her bedroom. Apollo is curled up in his space in the corner, licking himself obnoxiously to no end. But she tunes him out, wistfully staring at her reflection.

So beautiful...

...smell her from here...

Thirsty...

Hurts...

This is your chance...

You're wasting time...

From the cover of night and through the thin slit of the curtains, Jungkook pants shakily.

Standing on the fire escape, he idles just beyond the walls of her apartment, silently warring with himself on what to do.

This was stupid.
He could have just lured a random person from off the street and been done with the treacherous deed.

His control was waning, his body growing weaker and more susceptible to his thirst by the second.

It hurt to breathe.
It hurt to resist.

But every time the opportunity to strike presented itself, something that dwelled deeper than the bloodthirsty demon inside of him wouldn't allow him to move.

All because of her...

His pained gaze remains ahead as she stood before herself, tilting her head and allowing the separation of the silk robe to open. Her neckline is plunging and in the mirror, Jungkook watches her strum the vertical line that starts at the dip at the base of her neck and travels down between her silk-covered breasts with the tips of her fingers.

His brow shifts curiously as he watched her. His eyes alternate from the widening gap of her robe her facial expression.

Want her...

Jungkook sighs.

"I know.......but why her?..." he says to himself, leaning his head against the glass thoughtlessly.

His eyes screwed shut for a moment, reopening to spare another glance at the woman he was trying desperately not to kill.

He leans away from the glass, tentatively peaking to see if she could see him. But she's too distracted by her reflection.

And for a moment Jungkook is taken by the way she casually studies herself.

Not in a vain or conceited way, but as if she were looking at a person she'd never seen before.

Something about the notion is endearing and attractive, contrasting the way a woman who shall not be named used to spend countless moments staring at her immortal features with pride.

There was really something different about this woman...

A type of something that only made him want her, even if in ways he didn't understand yet.

Jungkook swallows down more venom that gathered in his mouth, his lips parting in a silent gasp as Deja was suddenly
removing the robe from her body and dropping it to the floor.

At the first sight of her nude body from behind, Jungkook forced himself to look away. He grits his teeth and turns his body, stepping sideways to put his back against the stone wall of the building.

"I can't...I can't do this...I gotta get outta here.." he murmurs, ignoring the groans of disagreement chiming in his mind.

Shaking his head, he pulls his hood back up to cover his damp hair and glances over the ledge of the fire escape before jumping down.

It was an hour before sunrise and the sky was already starting to change. The birds of dawn were chirping and the scent of dew was filling the air.

Jungkook stumbles and grits his teeth as the whispers buried him beneath their angered demands.

The unrelenting burn and ache blooms and spreads all over his body, making him claw at his skin through his clothes and whimper pitifully as he made his way down the concrete steps of a building he wished he visited sooner.

Flashes of horror and gore flood his mind, making it hard for him to focus on reaching his destination.

His body slams into the door once he cleared the final downward step and his fists pound against it a few times before he has to brace his hands on the doorway.

Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.
Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.Feed.

From inside, blaring music is dialed down in volume and agitated footsteps could be heard approaching. Jungkook pounds his head against the middle of the door desperately, more so to drown out the voices swirling in his tortured mind than to encourage it to be opened faster.

Whichever one happened first.

"I'M COMING! HOLD YOUR FUCKING DICKS..shit..." the human inside grumbles irritably and Jungkook lifts his head just as the door opens abruptly.

The smokey haze hits him in the face immediately, making him squint as the resident steps forward.

"Who the fuck....." the male exclaims, coughing hoarsely at the smoke exiting his body. Jungkook pants and blinks up at him pitifully, his eyes matching the abyss as they made contact with his savior.

"Yoongi......"

"I need your help..."