Heads up! A lot of killing will be going on in this chapter.. happy reading...🫢

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𝟏𝟔𝟎𝟏 | 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞

- ♦♦♦ -

"Yunho, you have to get up." Seonghwa did not bother packing more of his belongings than what was most necessary. He did not have time to go through it all. "We have to get going now!"

Yunho grimaced when he slowly rolled around in the bed, "But I haven't healed - I will only slow us down." Seonghwa pierced his eyes through him, like the stick had done a few days ago, "You wish to die?" he asked him, acutely. Groaning, Yunho turned his head in the fabric his neck had been propped up against.

Seonghwa took a step forward and harshly grabbed Yunho's chin with two of his fingers as he said, "They are coming - I can see their burning torches through the falling snow," Seonghwa's mouth quivered, "When they leave this place here, there will be nothing left to see of this property."

Only memories would flutter around in the wind filled with strong smells of smoke and enmity.

He watched Yunho swallow before starting to pull his legs out of the furniture. Seonghwa could not wait any longer. He threw a hand under Yunho and handled him around to be held on his back. The vampire tightened his arms around the other's thighs before grabbing the bag he had left on the chair.

His mind was a place of chaos and screams.

♦

His feet delved through endless heaps of snow as he escaped the lands he had been used to living in for centuries now. Being honest with himself, it felt like walking through foreign emotions fighting in his chest; a heaviness clumping in his limbs.

Yunho's face was nuzzled into his neck, but he could not tell if the man was asleep or not.

As he followed an old pathway through the terrain, his eyes raked across the dark clouds, not knowing where they were going. Only time would know.

Seonghwa shifted his arms holding around Yunho's legs. Luckily for him, the tall man was of a slender build and not heavy to lift at all. What worried Seonghwa the most was their lack of supplies. A few days without consuming any blood would not make the problem - but the possibility of going weeks without feeding was troubling him direly.

And Seonghwa was already growing tired.

Suddenly he felt a wetness touch his nape and Seonghwa stiffened, all of his attention moving to the weight of a tongue pressing against the snip of revealed skin. Seonghwa had not been aware of Yunho's doings until now. The heat growing along with his fangs was impossible not to notice. He tried to ignore it and played it off as if Yunho was only drooling in his sleep.

Said drool was rolling down under his clothes. He could not just ignore it.

"Yunho," he said, waiting for a response.

But the other was quiet when Seonghwa suddenly felt the points of teeth scraping across his skin. Seonghwa halted his movements and waited with the little patience he had left. He already knew the answer to his question, but he asked him anyway: "Are you hungry?"

The tiniest rumble vibrated in the back of Seonghwa's head while Yunho nibbled on his skin, "You smell so good.."

His fledgling was hungry.

Yunho flattened his tongue against him again before he was suddenly swung onto the ground. Away from Seonghwa. Seonghwa did not make any glance at him as he fiddled with a hand inside his bag, hurriedly trying to find the very last bottle with blood they had left. He pulled it up and Yunho was already staring at it with round eyes like two buttons. He didn't even see Seonghwa when he popped the lid and was handed over the scarce supplies that hurt Seonghwa to give away to another.

But he wouldn't want to deal with a young vampire who had yet to learn how to control his hunger.

Yunho gulped it all down messily and it pained Seonghwa to see how precious drops spilled into the snow.

- ♦♦♦ -

𝟏𝟔𝟎𝟐 | 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞

One week later.

- ♦♦♦ -

Another week passed by before they finally crossed ways with humankind again. The number of year must already have changed.

They had been resting this entire morning under some sturdy branches when Seonghwa suddenly heard footsteps nearing them in the distance. Perhaps, from a few hundred meters away. Then he could hear the voices and suddenly the forest was congested with the smell of blood. A few minutes later, Yunho sat up beside him, his eyes adjusting to the brightness of their surroundings as he seemed a little confused about Seonghwa sudden eagerness.

Seonghwa placed a hand on Yunho's opposite shoulder, pressing him closer as he spoke silently: "Do you hear it? Can you hear those voices?"

His hands were shaking with anticipation.

For a moment, he observed how Yunho concentrated on the task despite how his insides were throbbing in pain. His eyes suddenly twitched and redness flooded his irises with richness. He could only have succeeded.

"Those humans, Yunho," Seonghwa paused when Yunho directed his intense eyes at him, "I'll let you kill them all."

Clearly, Yunho was stunned, and it made sense to Seonghwa the more he slowly realised how oddly it must be for Yunho to be told he, for once, was allowed to kill another human. "What.." he trailed off before a loud sound of a branch snapping had them both turn their heads in the direction of the group of humans.

Without another word, Seonghwa got up on his legs, his body feeling taut and rigid, but movements smooth and silent. Then he proceeded moving behind the huge trees in the forest. A beat later he saw Yunho out of the corner of his eye, following right after him with the same burning hunger in his eyes.

As they neared the group of people, the scent of blood became unbearable for Seonghwa to keep on inhaling, poisonous in the most sweet way he could ever wish for it to be. It was a mystery how Yunho was able to keep himself on hold for they were both starving.

Heartbeats thumped in chests when one of them figured they were not alone. Mutters spread around them, reassuring each other that it most likely only was an animal roaming the forest.

Then Yunho stepped forward and one of the men shrieked in surprise. "By the gods, how you surprised me."

While the group observed the foreign man, Seonghwa circled the humans, counting the number of hearts beating to be of seven. He crept forward and leaned against a tree, observing the way a man wondered aloud why Yunho would not answer him. "I would not take another step closer to him if I was you."

Suddenly the seven pairs of eyes whipped around to look at Seonghwa, startled beyond belief as all of their sights landed on his red glowing eyes.

"By the holy spirits.. it's of all evil."

"Who are you?" another one asked, daringly, failing to sound threatening in any way. It made the corner of Seonghwa's lips curl into a knowing smirk, "I am afraid you wouldn't like to know. It is rather.. controversial to explain, if I must say, especially for people like you."

A bird crowed above them, startling the humans when branches made a loud sound. They all flinched, knees buckling as they tried to stay put. Although, the man in the front took a step back, stumbling into another behind him, "E-evil spirits!! I tell you not to come any closer!" he said while pulling a wavering hand up in front of him.

Seonghwa thought it looked pathetic.

"The gods will punish you if you do; we are of holy graveness!" another man tried, one who had the hood of his cloak pulled down. His eyes seemed more confident than the others, but Seonghwa doubted his words, fatally.

No one would ever know the reason of their disappearance. He would make sure of it. No gods would help them now.

Seonghwa hunched his shoulders under the cloak as he bared his fangs until the crisp air was ripping in his mouth. He was unable to control himself any longer. His thirst for blood ruling his body with intentions to do evil so delicate that he already was licking his lips. The move affected Yunho, instantly urging his fledgling to follow his lead.

He stepped around quivering legs as he viewed them through predator's eyes.

Yunho threw himself at them, a gurgling throaty hiss escaping his mouth as he knocked one of the men down into the snow-covered ground. The man's limbs kicked around, his belly sliding against the cold as his fingers desperately clawed into the white masses to escape the monster's cavernous yawn and sickly sharp needles. He screamed out his prayers for help but his fellow men were busied by the way Seonghwa slowly came closer. One of them was panting in fear when sighting how strings of spit dripped from Yunho's open mouth and down onto the neck of the fallen man.

"Oh, my word- he's getting eaten alive!?"

Seonghwa pressed himself another step up behind them until the men were kicking their legs together, trapped between each other.

"Move! Move out of my way!!" another screamed in a broken voice, painfully much in desperation of getting out of the mass of limbs and heavy breathing. Hitting his fellow comrades everywhere he could reach with his elbows, the man's selfishness brought him to kick off into the snow, thinking that he possibly had a chance to run off. He should have given it a second thought.

Seonghwa leaped after him, reaching him with an open hand that grabbed the hind of his head and smashed it right into the nearest tree.

"Goodness, goodness-"

A gooey mass of brains and blood ran down Seonghwa's hand when he stood with the remnants of a blasted head and its limp body slumping lifelessly against the tree. Seonghwa growled, his throat tightening when he instinctively lifted the unliving human to his sneering mouth and let his teeth sink into the running blood, feeling how strands of dark hair touched his lips. Someone retched and Seonghwa nearly tasted the sharp smell of acid while he hungrily swallowed the blood running between both of his hands.

His ears perked when a scream echoed among the trees, the crispness of Yunho's fangs drilling deep into the man's hide tingled Seonghwa's sense of hearing and he threw the corpse away from him again. Seonghwa wanted more. He needed more.

Steadily, he twisted his upper body around when he looked at the group of receding humans with a sullied smile, tasting sweet, sweet sins, "Does it look like I care about your gods?" he then said, a strand of his long dark hair sticking to his cheek and moving as he spoke.

In a matter of a few silent seconds, another was killed when Yunho had crawled across the snow and now stood with his hands around the airway of another man, squeezing so hard that he couldn't even scream. Yunho licked his lips when a drop of blood rolled down his chin and hit the man's clothes. Slowly, his nimble fingers pulled the hood down. The remaining men were stupefied.

Seonghwa made use of the distraction, reaching out for his dagger in his belt and with frightening precision, lifted it to one of the taller men who still was hiding underneath his cloak. There sounded a loud gasp only before the choking caught up with gurgling noises and hands flying up to pull at Seonghwa's wrists. He did not budge.

One stumbled out of the group, tripping over a branch; falling to the ground and into death's hollow hand. His breath staggered when he fought his weight on all fours and started crawling as fast as he could. A moment later Yunho's tall figure appeared in front of him and blocked the crying man's way.

Seonghwa's smirk broadened while he continued watching the encounter of Yunho moving to his own knees, blood dripping from his mouth as he smiled through his heavy fangs. Creeping, he tilted his head the way he must have seen Seonghwa do it multiple times before. And Seonghwa felt a surge through his belly when the man tore himself out of his stupefy and into a feverish panic.

"No, no no! Don't do this, I swear- please don't do this, I beg you!" But Yunho did not respond. Only his eyes spoke his next move, which certainly not was to spare the man's life.

Seonghwa broke the man's neck that he still held between his fingers. The cracking sound made the three remaining comrades flinch in dread of them being the next to undergo such a brutal death and the vampire's skin tingled with excitement. Seonghwa thought it rather naïve of them believing running off would double their chances of survival.

"Yunho," he called, eyes trailing the way Yunho was holding onto his prey with dear life as he drank up the warm liquid.

Blood was smeared all over Yunho's face when he looked up at Seonghwa with a savage look in his eyes. His shorter hair was all mussed and his cloak had turned around his neck and misfitted him. "Get them," Seonghwa whispered curtly.

As if letting the younger vampire off the leash, Yunho darted off in the woods.

Nonmistakingly, Seonghwa heard them all be killed a moment later.

Seonghwa had to think about what to do with the bodies now; for they could not possibly let them lay here when they had fed all they needed. Someone would find them and figure out what curse was running close now.

A flock of humans could only mean a village must be near.

∞

I'm excited to hear which member you guys think will be the one to appear in the next chapter!
Thank you so much for reading along~