𝟏𝟕𝟕𝟐 | 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲

- ♦♦♦ -

They forced Seonghwa to stay safely tucked in his bed for weeks before he finally had been allowed to leave its comfort. However, their eyes hardly ever strayed away from his sides like guarding dogs smelling the heavy distress he couldn't even find to concede himself. Seonghwa was weak, his sense of hearing still coming and going in waves following the years of having lain dormant. But he surely noticed how not a single item had been moved around in the mansion, surfaces oddly more clean than what they used to be.

"You must excuse me for having messed with the drawers with your sewing things. I've been using them frequently to find what I needed to stitch you up when urged," Yunho pleaded, his ears turning red when he noticed Seonghwa's dull eyes on him. Seonghwa's gaze continued their wandering down at the furniture.

"Oh," he exhaled, seeing the single roll of white thread lying on top of the wood, "I would not have seen it if you had not mentioned it."

Sheepishly, Yunho scratched his neck and Seonghwa sensed the act was one of skittish emotions towarded him and his reaction. But he did not comment on it.

Yunho followed him out of the room, barely noticeable when Seonghwa turned down the hallway for the first time in nearly a decade. The dull pain in his legs started flaring up again the more his heels tapped into the floor, but Seonghwa ignored the burning muscles with stubborn determination. Until he suddenly lost his footing, stumbling forward with a surprised sound pressing through his clenched teeth. A sturdy body caught him before he reached the ground, and he heavily let his defeat sink in, arms folding around Yunho's back. He does not look up at him.

"Are you alright?" Yunho's words brush against the back of his head with so much gentle care that he suddenly feels so lightheaded. This time, he cannot lie to him.

"My legs, they burn.." Seonghwa told him with a whisper and tugged at the fabric in his hands. He did not know what sensitivity had taken over him, but it was certain that his oldest fledgling understood his state of mind as if he had patiently waited for him to come to this point of fathomed dependence.

Yunho just caressed his hair without a word before lifting him into his arms and continuing down the hallway. It was embarrassing to say it at least, and Seonghwa hoped that his little Sani would not see him like this.

♦

Seonghwa sat by the table all alone, his hand occupied with his familiar goblet with blood as he browsed through the local newspapers. His eyes were slightly scrutinized as he looked over the mention of the number of murdered people through the last few weeks. An eye-witness had been interviewed in the text below, stating the sureness of how he had seen two foreign men rip the victim's throat out before draining the body of its blood into a large jar and leaving the rest behind. It was written that he did not see their faces clearly and thus was not able to identify who the murderers were, but to Seonghwa, that was not needed. Further down, the text discussed the concerns of The Pirate King's return to the port after so many years of peace. For a moment, the dreading ink had him stall, confused as to why those humans were so scared of a single man who had coronated himself as superior to humankind.

Then he flipped to the next page and trailed his eyes across the portrayal of said pirate. The terror was real. Townspeople believed that Hongjoong Kim had returned to the port of Lisbon.

If Seonghwa had not been aware of how brutal the man was, the information would never have ought to rattle the slightest of dread from the depths of his still heart. But the feeling of the blade digging in between his ribs was still so painfully alive that Seonghwa still feared the man would come after him and hurt what he considered his dearest.

Was Hongjoong secretly a hunter, traveling around the world on his notorious ship while he plundered and murdered monsters? Did he search for vampires to satisfy his hunger for blood and cover his line of work by raising terror among sailors of the perilous waters and the kings along the shorelines? There was no doubt this man was bright in his doings, mastering what humankind rarely acquired in powers. And that was what struck Seonghwa with fear.

For the man had become the only one that Seonghwa hadn't been able to kill.

A sleek body curled itself around him, sliding into his chair on top of him. Seonghwa moved his gaze away from the newspaper to the flushed cheeks raised towards him, dark eyes awaiting his embracing reaction. It took an instant for Seonghwa's senses to catch up on the musky smell swirling around his fledgling and giving it away that they definitely did not clean up thoroughly after themselves. Seonghwa decided to ignore the matter when San leaned in and rested his chin in the crook of his neck, nuzzling his cheek against his bare skin with a purring sound. He sighed softly, full of content.

"Did you wash up?" he asked, hands steadying against the small of San's back for a reasonable line of contact. The younger shifted in the hold, "Is it that obvious?" There was a moment of silence where Seonghwa contemplated whether he should point out his understanding of such intimate affairs that he did not share with them after all, or if ignorance would be the better choice. Never in the years his fledglings had been under his care had they spoken about what happened behind closed doors when Seonghwa was not around, but that surely did not mean that Seonghwa had not come to know the obvious signs of when they had been pleasing each other.

The same peculiar smell that clung to San's fabrics and skin seeped through the cracks of Yunho's chamber and down the stairs in the mansion while still-blissed-out eyes stared up at him, hinting at what Seonghwa thought was done in jest. San was so beautiful like this.

"Did you feed already?" the older vampire changed the subject while returning his eyes to his newspaper on the table, flipping the page a single time before his hand was squashed against the wooden board by another hand. The hold slightly loosened when his fledgling regained his full attention again. San played well along with his game of change. His head tilted the lightest at San's searching gaze.

"Sire, do I not receive a kiss?"

Seonghwa's lips moved without a sound at his little Sanie's demand; "Kiss me!"

A growl bubbled down in his chest before he even realised how much of a brat this fledgling was acting. Suddenly a kiss was the least he deserved.

"San-ah, behave." The voice flowed through the room before a large hand cradled the hind of Seonghwa's head sweetly, moving in closer as he bent down, "You must wait patiently, our Seonghwa is still healing. It has only been a few weeks since he awoke. We have already had this conversation," Yunho reasoned, pinching San's side and making him squirm in Seonghwa's lap.

San sent Yunho a glare, and then he finally sighed and let the defeat sink in. His impatience had not changed in the passing decade, if not it had only worsened.

"But Seonghwa-ssi, I was thinking about asking you if you would cut my hair?" Yunho asked and Seonghwa immediately nodded his head, pulling San out of his lap so that he could fetch his scissors.

Seonghwa shoved Yunho down into a chair, the fledgling still being so tall beside himself despite sitting down. San found another chair and dragged it across the floor before lounging against its backrest, looking at them with interest. "He has been nagging me about this for so long, but every time I cut his hair for him he just never was satisfied with the outcome. I don't know, I suppose I just do not have the same crafting hands as you."

He gathered Yunho's long dark brown hair in his hands before reaching for the brush that stuck out from his pocket. "Yes, because you always managed to cut it so painfully uneven that I dared not show my head outside for literally half a year at least," Yunho grumbled in response while Seonghwa started brushing out the frizz. "That's why I did not bother with shorter hair," San grinned.

While working his hair shorter, Seonghwa listened to their soft banter about what had occurred through the years they had been on their own. They listed through it all until it was mentioned how authorities had treated them. His curious little Sani then wanted to know what he must have done for them to treat him like royalty.

"I helped them through the black death ravaging all of Europe at that time," Seonghwa said, sliding his comb through Yunho's shortened hair once more and cutting a little more off the lower strands. When he found no one reacting to his declaration, Seonghwa turned to San with slightly creased brows.

"The black death..?"

"Yes.. I cured people of their sickness, and killed some too," Seonghwa halted his movement and let his hands fall to rest on Yunho's shoulders with utter surprise when he knew why they both seemed so unknowing. "You do not know about the black death, do you?"

San's mouth parted slightly as he stared up at him with a grinding expression.

"I feel like this is something we should know of..?" Yunho carefully tried and Seonghwa nodded even if he still had his back turned toward him. "You should. The plagues killed entire villages and countless lineages disappeared."

San slowly started nodding along, "So a harmful disease? How did you cure them?"

Seonghwa combed through Yunho's hair a few times again until he was satisfied and stuffed his pockets with his tools again, "I shared my blood with the townspeople. A drop in a bottle of water was enough for them to start healing. I realised if humanity died, then I would have no way of surviving. So I had to do it. They hailed me as their God afterward, protected from unbelievers and looters coming after me. I was so important to them that even the king begged me to stay by giving me this estate and building me this mansion. But I also had an easy time with finding enough to feed off."

"Those who died," Yunho started, gradually turning around in his seat to find Seonghwa's face, "The blood did not turn them as we did?"

Seonghwa understood his concern, "No, they would have needed at least a hundred times more of my blood if that should have been possible. The townspeople did not even know it was blood which healed them." He then ushered his fledgling to go find a mirror and see his new haircut out.

"Do you want a haircut too?"

San leisurely got up from his chair and wrapped himself around Seonghwa's arm, "No, I quite like it as it is at this moment," he purred.

"Alright," Seonghwa told him and kissed the top of his head. His teeth ached at the talk of blood.

♦

The following night, Seonghwa joined them on their hunting for the first time in a long while. He had missed the thrilling sense of the cold wind blowing him in the face, while he detected shallow heartbeats in crooks and alleys and warm homes. Humans were there enough of. They had decided to stroll through the streets until they stumbled upon an unfortunate lad. His two fledglings led the way, their fingers curled around each other hidden beneath their cloaks. Seonghwa quite enjoyed the sweet gesture.

As they passed by the docked ships by the harbor he could not keep the jitters from speaking up when he let his gaze wander down the different ships and boats tied up. He was so occupied by his careful investigations that he did not even hear the gunshots ring through the calm night.

Then loud yelling was heard before dogs started interfering with their vicious barks.

"-hwa, love," Yunho called to gain his attention, and Seonghwa's eyes flickered up at the taller male gripping his cloak, "Let's see what's happening, hm?" Seonghwa gave him a firm nod and started off toward the uproar amid the night.

Soon he could hear the orders being barked out. 'Get him!' 'Right that way' 'Careful careful' 'Use the gun, you moron!' 'The King wants him alive... I said alive..!'

Seonghwa shoved both Yunho and San into the shadows when Kingsmen passed right by them, hailing an untamed, writhing body after them. The man spat at his capturers, pulling at every one of his limbs to get away. Seonghwa did not catch on what was said but he could have detected that swearing voice anywhere.

When the Kingsmen had left the open place, San gave himself to gasp and Seonghwa was left petrified as he peered after the men pulling a sack over the corsair's head.

"They caught Captain Hongjoong Kim."

∞