TAINTED HEART
chapter three : niki

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

"Niki, the director is very pissed-" Sunoo greeted the younger one with a bad news but Niki gave him a cup of coffee from starbucks.

"It's your favorite, hyung." Niki smiled as he hopped on the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors were closing in, Sunoo sighed.

He knew the director would be mad at Niki no matter what. Niki erased an entire vampire clan from existence. It would normally take a month for a group of hunters to annihilate a single clan but it only took Niki one night and he was alone.

Although, it was a win for the hunters there are still consequences they have to take into consideration and that is...

The director slammed the pile of papers on his desk. "You... are you aware of the consequences that follows from what you just did last night!?" He shouted.

Niki didn't respond and just stared at the luminescent floor, allowing his imagination to find the patterns on the ground to form random faces and animals.

"You already know that there are vampire clans who are protected by vampire royals, right? That clan you just eliminated in one night is protected by a vampire royal!" He says, noticing Niki wasn't listening, "Are you even listening!?"

"Hm? Ah yeah." Niki said, inserting his pinky finger in his right ear as he adverted his eyes.

The director, Jay, sighed and massaged his temples, "We've identified the royal that is protecting the clan you just killed and it's the queen. Out of the vampire royals, she's the one we haven't encountered yet and we lack information of. We don't know how capable she is nor how strong she is."

The queen of vampires, he thought.

They've already identified the vampire royals. The sibling royals, 1 boy named Yeonjun and 2 girls named Jennie and Irene. The vampire hunters organization also studied their powers and even made theories about it.

Yeonjun, the 5th child, speciality is fast recovery, he could also heal other vampires - there's also a theory that he can cure every human disease that exists, even diseases that are uncurable. But it isn't proven yet that's why the government had issued a command that if ever the hunters spot Yeonjun, they would capture him alive due to his abilities that can benefit humans.

Jennie, the 2nd child, she specializes in poison. She can produce venom that is invisible to the human eye and has the control to immediately kill her enemy or make them suffer with the venom. A vampire hunter had already fallen victim to her venom and he unfortunately died a painful death since the venom sticked with him for a year until it finally finished him off.

Irene, the 3rd child, her speciality is becoming invisible and can create a mist that can make an individual hallucinate, it makes someone feel like they're high on drugs. In theory, if one inhales the mist for too long they would either go mentally crazy or die.

The queen is identified as the 6th child of the vampire king but other than that, there is no other information about her which makes her dangerous since the hunters don't know what she can do.

The director looked at Niki, "Look, I know that you're still stuck on what happened with your dad but-"

"Please don't mention the incident." Niki said, clashing with Jay's eyes. Jay avoided eye contact.

He was nervous when he remembered that Niki didn't want anyone mentioning about what happened in the past.

"What I meant to say is that I know you hate vampires, especially the royals, but you should still think about your fellow hunters. Think about this organization! You're strong, your Numinous may even overpower a royal's power, but the other hunters in this organization are not like you. If a royal attacks them, they don't stand a chance. They have families too, niki, do you want the same thing to happen to them?" Jay said, low-key guilt tripping him.

He was only bringing it up because he knows Niki has a big room in his heart for sympathy for those who lost a family from a vampire because he, himself, have experienced and witnessed it firsthand.

Niki bit his lip and adverted his gaze on a random object in Jay's office. "I'm sorry. I'll take responsibility for my actions." He gave up.

Jay gave a small smile and sighed as he shook his head. No matter what Niki does, at the end of the day he is still a young boy with a lot of softness inside of him.

"As long as you realize it, I'll let this slide for once. You should go near the entrance of Nosferatu Forest where you killed the clan. The hunters are patrolling the area in case the vampire royals decide to avenge them. That's how you take responsibility." He says. Niki nodded and went out.

-

Selene's servants helped in preparing her black robe that had a hoodie, big enough to cover her. Her servants gave her her white mask with golden patterns covering the upper part of the mask, the one she always wears when she goes out the forest in order for her face to not be seen by the hunters.

She was wearing this because she needs to go to where the ione clan was killed. She was also bringing her siblings with her, they were under her wing so they have no choice but to obey her command that they accompany her to the area.

She had to do this to get the remains of the vampires from ione clan.

Vampires, when killed and burned, will leave out parts of their body when they die, the humans call these "Protocores" and they have to retrieve it so that the humans can't use it to research more on the vampires.

It's her "queen" duties that she had to take care of. But she also wanted to go there because hunters are for sure patrolling the area for the protocores and the Nishimura hunter will surely be there.

If he's not there then I'll just kill all the humans there. She thought.

"Sis, you ready?" Irene peeked through the door. She was also wearing a black robe but her mask was black.

"Mm, I'll be out. Just a minute." Selene said. The servants went out and she was left all alone in her room. "Kwon, any news?"

Kwon suddenly appeared and bowed at her, "Yes, there are currently a total of 50 hunters patrolling the forest, there's no sight of Niki, your highness." It made Selene sigh in disappointment. She just has to turn to the latter option, killing all the hunters within the area.

"Okay, thanks kwon, you can have your dinner now. I bought food for you. The burgers are really good." She smiled. Kwon only blinked for a couple of times, he didn't like her highnesses' joke. She knew vampires like kwon can't taste any food other than animal or human blood.

The vampire royals can taste human food so they are free from the restraints of their survival depending on the human blood but it's like going on a vegan diet, you know? It's not the same as consuming human blood.

Leon, the vampire king, doesn't particularly enjoy human food, that's why he chose to be an actor because he'll be close to humans - he can drink their blood, erase their memories, or just kill them right after.

As for Selene, she doesn't go crazy for human blood and she can taste human food. She had never tasted any human's blood that allows her to lose control upon tasting it but she never even felt any severe hunger for her to go sucking every human's blood.

Maybe it's because of the fact that she can resurrect that its affecting her appetite? Were these side effects?

She doesn't know and maybe she never will.

Selene's siblings just settle for animal blood. Compared to human food, animal blood satisfies them more, but they do go and suck a human's blood every once in a while. It's not frequent because Selene is strict with them consuming a human's blood.

A human's blood is like a drug to a vampire, especially a blood that is so addicting to their taste that they crave it 24/7 which leads to the death of most vampires.

Selene also found out a trick that Solace, the vampire hunter association, is using. They recently found a human that has such unique blood, the smell of her blood would make every vampire crazy that they would lose control.

As soon as the vampires lose control due to her blood, it gets revealed that they are a vampire without knowing that there are vampire hunters disguising themselves as civilians and others hiding so they'll end up getting caught or killed on the spot.

The girl was a bait to vampires. That's why Selene was training her younger siblings how to control their desperation of human blood so that they won't fall into some silly tricks pulled by human vampire hunters.

"Sis, let's go!" Jennie's yelling reminded her of her current objective today; to go to the area where ione clan was annihilated, get their remains to avoid the humans from advancing.

Selene went outside and saw her three siblings, Yeonjun, Jennie, and Irene waiting for her. Yeonjun was already yawning, "What took you so long, sis?" Yeonjun asked.

Selene smiled, "That's a secret." She chuckled when Yeonjun puffed his cheeks in annoyance of her response. "Now, let's run through the reminders before starting, what's the first?"

Irene went first to recite the reminders she told them earlier, "We won't call you by your first name but only 'Your Highness'"

Selene snapped her fingers, "bingo!"

"Tch, you just set that plan because we never call you by your title. You take pride in this, don't you?" Yeonjun argued which caused his ears to be pulled by Selene "OUCH!"

"You talk too much, yeonjunie~" She said in a sweet voice and in an informal tone. Yeonjun was a lot older than her but her real age was a lot older than even her father.

Truthfully speaking, she was mentally old between the three of them.

"Second is that if we engage in a battle with a human, we'll always make sure that our masks are still in our face. If the mask is accidentally broken in battle and our human enemy saw our face, we would kill them right in the spot for confidentiality reasons" Jennie says, chuckling.

"That's right!, Yeonjun?" she turned to Yeonjun who was still rubbing his now red ears from the way she pulled and twisted it earlier.

"Last is to run away if we're at a disadvantage in a fight with the human vampire hunters." He said, not giving it any effort to say it.

Selene clasp her hands together as her eyes sparkled with burning determination, "Okay! Let's go!"

-

Sunoo and Niki were currently in a car ride to the nosferatu forest. Jay ordered Sunoo to come with Niki to just keep Niki on a tight leash, to make sure he doesn't cause anything that has even bigger consequences.

Niki was quiet. It was obvious that his conversation with the director earlier was still lurking in his mind, it was bothering him. Sunoo sighed, "You just had to bring a vampire clan to its extinction, huh?"

Niki didn't respond. "Why did you do that anyway?" Sunoo asked again but it was only returned by a long period of silence which turned the air in the car into awkwardness.

Sunoo just gave up on questioning Niki's actions any further and just looked out of the window.

"It was my dad's death anniversary yesterday." Niki suddenly brought up. Sunoo looked at him, his heart heavy hearing Niki utter those words. Sunoo knew about Niki's past and he couldn't help but to empathize with him.

"I... was going through his stuff, the ones retrieved from the fire, and I found a ripped up letter, it was a letter written by my dad and the only sentence there that were still readable was that he stated that he believed that vampires and humans could coexist if we just tried." Niki said, looking at the city lights that the car was passing by.

He never changed his father's room, although he repaired it due to the incident but he made it look exactly the same as it was when his father was still alive. He would clean it every once in a while, during his death anniversary.

"But..." his eyebrows furrowed, remembering that day.

-

MODERN PERIOD (2016)

Niki's memory was hazy, he only remembered how he went to school that day. He was a cheerful kid, he grew up in a happy family although it was only him and his dad. His dad loved him so much and provided him with a lot of things.

Everyday he was always looking forward to go home and to taste his dad's cooking, to listen to his dad's adventure of being a slayer of vampires, and he was happy just by his presence.

His dad was his everything. Growing up without a mother, he only have one parent to look up to and that was his dad. That's why he was so close to him, he never once felt that his dad never loved him.

His dad just texted him earlier that he was coming home today from a week long business trip. He was excited to see his dad again, he left abruptly in the middle of the night only leaving a piece of letter saying he needed to leave for a mission - it was hunting vampires.

He didn't go into details in the letter but Niki assumed that he's been assigned far away from Seoul to fight vampires.

"Hey Niki, do you want to come to the arcade with us-" his friend from school went to his desk but Niki was already done packing his things up.

"I'm sorry I have to go home now, thanks for the offer, maybe next time... uh... bye!" He say cheerfully but also apologetically. He practically skipped out of the classroom and ran out of the school building. He rode his bike and went home.

The sunset hues in the sky made
Niki overjoyed, it was such a beautiful weather and he would just love to watch the skies right now with his dad. The afternoon breeze hitting his face as he inhaled the fresh fragrance of the air was relaxing.

I wonder what we'll have for dinner today? Niki thought.

He arrived at their house where he and his dad was staying at. They've been living here for their whole life and Niki has felt nothing but comfort in this neighborhood.

But...

There was something wrong.

There were firetrucks around their house, people were gathering around and taking a video with their phones, there were also police and an ambulance. Niki looked at their house and it was on fire.

Their house was on fire.

'DAD!' Niki immediately thought of his dad and jumped out of his bike, allowing it to fall to the ground. He ran through the people that was gathered. The police tried to stop him from entering the building but due to his small figure, he easily dodge the police's block.

He ran as fast as he can as the police yelled at him to come back and to stop. Niki pushed pass throught the gate and went to the front door of their house but it was jammed.

The smoke coming out of the house was black, the fire was consuming everything on their house.

He immediately ran to the backyard, running to the back door as he used his body to open the door. Luckily, it was easy to open.

He covered his nose and mouth as he coughed. The kitchen was the main source of the fire.

Niki, as if it was his instinct as a son, went to the room of his father but froze when he opened the door.

"D-Dad..."

His father's feet wasn't on the ground and he wasn't the only one in the room. A man in a black suit, red tie, and golden glowing eyes was choking his dad and lifting him up.

His dad's hands were on the man's wrist that was choking him. The amount of strength he had to be able to lift his dad with one hand tells only one thing; the man wasn't human.

He was a vampire.

His dad looked at niki, a tear escaping his eyes, "My boy... r-run!"

The man with golden eyes looked at him and he couldn't move a single muscle, "No..." Niki's dad uttered, "Leave him alone!"

"Hm? Why would I kill an innocent human...? Unless..." The vampire paused, realizing something, connecting the dots. "Haha... haha...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

The man raised his other free hand, his sharp claws pierced through his father's chest, "YOU HAD A CHILD WITH HER!? YOU THINK I'LL LET THIS SLIDE!?!?!"

His father cough up blood. Niki was horrified by the sight, he didn't know if he was dreaming or if this was really happening right in front of him, he hated that he couldn't move.

'MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!!!!"

He kept yelling in his mind to move but his body wasn't following his command. The vampire kept on pushing and pulling his sharp claws in his father's stomach, repeatedly piercing him until the vampire dropped his dad's dead body to the ground.

"N-no..." Niki uttered, looking at his dad's body.

The vampire walked towards him, he was smiling at him, "Hm? Are you scared little boy? Don't worry, I'll make your death quick. After all, you're not supposed to exist."

Niki couldn't process a single thing he was saying since he was too terrified to even think.

The pressure he was feeling was suffocating, the mere presence of the vampire was like crushing his heart. It was hard to breathe.

The vampire was about to pierce Niki with his sharp claws but vampire hunters appeared through the door and windows of the room and fought him off.

The hunters was just barely fighting him, they had major injuries while they were only inflicting a scrape wound on the vampire. The vampire was laughing maniacally as he slashed his enemies.

The other hunters, knowing the hunters who was fighting the vampire stand no chance, dragged Niki out of the house and escaped him away from that area.

-

That was how he survived. In exchange for his survival, he was forever haunted by the memories on that day and the burning rage for vampires especially the vampires who has golden eyes, the royals.

"But... He was killed by a vampire. Ruthlessly killed. It makes me angry that he thought so much about the coexistence of vampires and humans. He thought so good about them, he had so much hope in them but they were the reason why he's dead." He clenched his hands into a fist.

"That's why, as soon as I saw that letter, I needed some outlet to satisfy my rage. I went to the city to search for a vampire and I found one, I killed him but it turned out there were others and they saw what I did to their kin. I flew to the nosferatu forest to avoid any civilians from getting hurt from our fight and before I knew it the whole clan was already after me. The clan turned out to have grudges against me. I'm already a known figure within the vampires, they know my face, the sword I weild, they wanted to kill me to avenge the vampires I killed from their clan and that's about it." He looked at Sunoo who was trying to keep up with that had transpired last night.

"Does that answer your questions?" He asked.

Sunoo sighed, "Yep, thanks for being honest. But Niki... you really have to learn to control your rage, do not allow yourself to be consumed by it. We could even encounter a vampire royal in the nosferatu forest, what would you do then?"

"I will kill them." He didn't hesitate to answer. To him, it was the most obvious and the most righteous decision. There was nothing to consider.

Death was the only answer for vampires.

He would never hesitate to pierce his sword in a vampire's flesh.

Never.