♦️♦️♦️

                                   ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧ ┈┈•༶

                                                        /RA/

Not a vampire but not quite human. 

I assess the handsome, dark figure who is sat amongst his cronies. The entertainment hall is cast in a dark shadow over all seven men inside, waiting for the lights to go on. But even in the obscure light, I can easily pluck him out from among them. Raven haired, shrewd-faced with lofty, big eyes. He sips slowly on a whiskey and takes another puff of his cigar. 

He was here early. 

But of course, Masters were never late.

Retreating once more to my hiding place behind the barrier of silk curtains, my gaze pleads hopelessly with my dear, 'Mother Marl' again. 

"Don't give me that look, Reina!" She warns sternly.

"Please M!" I beg, "Do I really have to serve him tonight? I'll work double shifts any other night. Just please, don't make me do it?"

"I thought you'd be flattered to have such a fine Master, I mean- the finest Master as your audience tonight?" she purred casually while twisting and adjusting the scarlet feather of her bowler hat.

I gulp in wide-eyed uncertainty at my boss and mentor. 

Usually, Mother Marl always knew best but this was one thing that I did not  have such a good feeling about!

My name is Reina Agaki and I work as a hostess at the exclusive, Hongdae House. 

Collasghail is my home. 'The city of diamonds'  they called it and we are its 'Pearls'. 

Hand selected, rare- beauties. Myself and 49 others were gathered from across Mirain to serve and entertain the elite. It was an honour and a privilege for some but for me, it was just a way to make ends meet for me and my brothers. 

They sold drugs and weaponry underground but believe or not, that provides barely enough for us to survive. Those commodities now so common that people aren't willing to pay a good price for them. So I work here. I use my charms to get paid by the elite. 

You see, in this world there was no recognised differentiation between races. 

Just Masters and Uddowāmu.

Pearls all originate from Uddowāmu backgrounds. But we are taken in, taught and given priceless skills and attributes which make us less... undesirable than the rest. 

The Masters tolerate us.

The Rest...

Meaning my brothers and all the remaining inhabitants of this city, they remain at the footstool of society. 

A long time ago, before I was born, Tamban was the largest and wealthiest city in Mirain. Fish, livestock and food was plentiful. The people lived there in abundance and peace.

But even before the rest of the country felt the effects of the crash in 4109, Tamban struggled. Money and credit ran out, plagues savaged the country-sides. Now, people were out of work, hungry, and desperate, the city bankrupt, except for the elite Masters who kept all remaining wealth for themselves.

For the rest of us, our fortunes were anything but certain, thousands moving north to Collasghail- the most powerful city, built by the Masters - with the hope of a better life.


Since that time, Uddowāmu have received some help from the Masters, which I suppose is better than no help, but it's never quite enough. 

It was true, they'd built a strong city at the World's end but only by the blood of those deemed less than them. 

Whenever War broke out, they shipped boys and men off to fight with no option of losing. After the Great War, most men worked on new air-bridges that linked the Grassy Tamban plains and Lower Collasghail. This way all natural resources could flow uninterrupted into Collasghail. 

You might ask, why not fight back, why not rebel-- especially when there were so few of them and hundreds of thousands of us?

But the Masters were not only strengthened by wealth, they possessed superior and unearthly powers. The legends never tell from whence they came but their history holds significance for me and my people. Masters were once our saviours. 

Locusts weren't the only plagues that came to us those many years ago. Mirain became invaded by vile creatures that killed and fed on us, nearly bringing the Kingdom to its feet. 

Masters were very much like these creatures except they had no fangs, no desire for blood. 

Revealed to be a mix of vampire and warlock- Masters possessed all the strength, magic and eerily gorgeous beauty of a vampire but with all traces of animalistic tendency seemingly removed. With blood of silver coursing through their veins, they did not even bleed like us. 

They were pure blooded.

Their leader was the Master of all Masters, Kim SeokJin. Our people swore allegiance to them after his 'kind'  brought us out from destruction. And so, Masters became feared, revered. Our rulers. 

His only son and heir, Kim Taehyung, was the most arrogant and deadly of them all. Women far and wide would speak about the handsome heir to the dynasty and the second most powerful Master  to exist.

"Five minutes girl!" Mother M's voice carries around the room and several girls stop gossiping and giggling amongst themselves to hurriedly apply last minute fixes to their appearance.

We served them and pleased them.... no not always in the way that you're thinking.

We were just mere objects of fantasy and attraction mainly for display and entertainment. 

We never crossed the line with our Masters - well unless a girl wanted to. 

Some girls did, others never have. 

Like me.

"Who will we be serving tonight?" A clueless young one whispers to her friend over the buzz in the dressing room.

"I dunno some stupid rich fuckers. Same as always...gah! I just hope their not old and wrinkly this time!"

She adjusts her boobs before re-applying a nude, natural lipstick  and spraying on some perfume 

"But what if its, the Prince?" The first one persists. 

She's unable to hide the squeak of excitement in her voice. The tale of Master Kim's son joining our audience tonight has been swimming around the House all week. When I heard it, I believed it to be a 'tall' tale but the mystery was confirmed when I snuck out ahead of everyone to peer into the entertainment hall.

Sure enough, he was there.

"He's not a bloody, Prince!" I interject purposefully, swiping an ornate power-box off of the counter from in front of them and dabbing at my nose.

"You'll soon see that when he fucks you and then rips your head right off.." I smirk at the squirming younger one in her seat and walk away. Wondering in the aftermath, why I always had to be so mean? But they had to know the truth.

I was meant to act as a big sister to them after all. 

That's what we were here, a strange sort of family. Most of us had lost our parents- one or both. Some were orphans just like me who needed that sense of belonging and found a way to embrace our situation in this new world, somehow.

Another one of the younger's is off singing in the corner for practice and the two I just scolded both hush her vehemently. 

"Knock it off, will you?" One shouts.

"Yeah, save it for the show sweetie!" The other adds in and now I don't feel so bad about before. 

Mother gathers us all around.

"Look at you girls! Beautiful!" She beams, sighing dramatically as she always does.

My sisters and I all look around and nod at each others flawless makeup and carefully chosen dresses. We stand around glowing in a range of white and cream hues of fine, silk fabric- preferred by the Masters.

Every Pearl takes her position and when the lights turn on in the hall outside, I get an uneasy feeling.

The singers file out onto the stage first while the butlers appear, filling us hostesses' arms with heavy bottles of Champagne and other expensive liquors to serve around.

I do love to sing but Mother never let me perform on stage because of my ...flaw. I watch enviably as the musical Pearls take their places.

Looking on the bright side, I was very good at serving the clients and making them feel at ease with good conversation. 

I take a deep breath deciding to push my apprehensions aside and do just that, so long as I could avoid drawing the attention of this....Master Kim Taehyung.

"The Master heir is at Hongdae House tonight." Mother Marl booms from her microphone at centre-stage, "Let us welcome him, and treat him and his guests to a unique and unforgettably divine experience!"

The Pearls sing, play fine instruments and dance looking otherworldly, beautiful. I feel strangely proud of the show that we always manage to put on. So effervescent, attractive and sweet in-spite of the dark times that we live in. 

We go around in pairs, filling and refilling the glasses. Careful to display our beauty and elegance but not to disturb.

I step forward and to my dismay, my sister steps away leaving me to refresh none other than Master Kim, himself. 

I greet him solemnly with eyes bowed low. 

"How do you find the evening?" I hear him say but don't respond. It is impossible that he's speaking to me.

I fill the glass and tilt my head lower, bending my knees about to turn away.

"I was talking to you..." He raises his voice, sending a chill down my spine and I quickly answer, not wanting to have it ripped out.

"All is well, Master Kim." 

I make to turn again swiftly but he accosts me with another question.

"Do you know that it's my birthday, pet?"

I don't speak. 

Only smiling politely as I was taught. I remain frozen, confused. We weren't allowed to engage in non-required conversation. Meaning, no exchanges of personal information or feelings, opinions. None of that. We were taught to pander and flatter them with kind remarks and complements only.

"Is there something wrong with this one?" He laughs and I try my best to hide the anger rising inside of me.

"May I speak out of turn, Master?"

 "Yes, I would like you to finally speak!" He rocks further back into his chair and arrogantly pops a juicy grape into his mouth, waiting.

"As it pleases you Master," I respond calmly, "No, I did not know."

A pompous smirk paints across his full lips as he bites down on another piece of fruit, regarding me with critical eyes.

His heavy fan of long dark lashes brush his cheeks when he lowers his gaze suddenly in disdain for me.

"How foolish!" he turns to another young Master beside him who sizes me up with his gaze as well. I shift on my feet, rather un-'Pearl'-like but I don't like this.

"Surely the entire Kingdom knows! Much less all the people of this city! Consider yourself, enlightened."

I scoff softly then clamp my hands over my mouth when I realise what I've just done.

Master Taehyung's head snaps toward me. Of course he heard it, they can hear everything.

He can probably even hear my wild, frantically beating heart right now!

"Tell me your name!" He demands.

"R-Reina!"

"Reinaaaaa," He leans back with a smug smile.

"Reina, can you guess how old I am today?"

Why is he asking me this suff?

"I'm not sure, Master Kim."

He smacks his tongue in impatience and stands up, suddenly grabbing me by the chin.

He shoves me to the floor where I slump over in pain! 

"If you weren't so beautiful, I would have fun killing you right here in this room."

The music stops, the hall falls silent and some of the other Pearls gasp or try their best to stifle it.

"You! Get back up." 

I rise shakily to my feet.

"I apologize, Master Kim."

Biting the inside of my cheek. I could not relate to another, the unbelievable amount of restraint I required in this present moment.

My brothers would never allow this. If they only found out they would.....

Reality sets in.

The penalty for disobeying a Master  was death.

We all knew it. I am not afraid of this self-important and outrageously unlikeable Voodoo 'prince' but I don't want my family hurt either just because I can't control my temper. Tales of servants losing their lives or having their entire household executed in front of their eyes for not finding favour with Masters was common gossip in the streets of Collasghail. 

I scramble out of reach, in as elegant a fashion as I could and kept my distance for the rest of the night. The music is in full swing again but as I carry out my duties, smile, sing and chatter easily with our other clients, my skin feels prickling and hot.

I pass my cool hands over the back of my neck, then my bare arms. I swipe my palms over them again when the feeling doesn't go away. Letting out a loud sigh which I'm certain shouldn't be heard. No, not over the music. I turn my head for no reason in particular. Only to find that his eyes...

They follow me wherever I go.

I swan around the room, feeling distressed and trying to act as naturally as possible. But in every instance that my curiosity betrays me, I meet his hardened gaze and feel that persistent prickling pain. 

I whisper in the ear of one of my sisters before excusing myself discreetly to the powder room where I grab my bag and sift through my belongings.

Finding a vial as slim as a Norican fairy's finger, I quickly empty the tasteless elixir down my throat.

The burning, the prickling stops.

What the hell do you want with me, Kim Taehyung!

                                    ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Thank you so much for joining me on this new little adventure! Let's make it fun! 💋 

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                                          ✨BJF✨