"Yeah, sure. I'll do it."

Namjoon patted his shoulder appreciatively, smiling a little. "Thanks a lot, Kook." The ravenette shrugged it of casually. Suck it up and go with it, Jungkook. It can't be as bad as you think.

"No need to thank me. So, should we go now or--" He threw a glance towards Taehyung, who was currently massaging his temples and whispering inaudible words to himself, eyes shut tightly and red, slightly glossy lips moving uninterruptedly. His cheeks were still aflame, his hair damp and his skin glistening as he was currently sweating. Quite ironic how vampires suddenly had the ability to sweat when drunk, diseased or other quite unusual, inexplicable conditions.

"Now sounds like a good idea," Namjoon and Jimin spoke in unison, their eyes full of concern as they most definetely not used to seeing the redhead so... distraught. They were actually worried about him as that state seemed quite unusual despite only having known him for few weeks. Jungkook nodded, turning towards the redhead and waving a hand in front of his face to get his attention. Vainly.

"Uh...," he just said since the vampire would not budge, actually starting to feel a tad helpless. He then pulled Taehyung up by grabbing both his forearms, the redhead jerking up with a surprised sound and the ravenette being forced to steady him since the other's body literally went limp the second he was lifted into the air. With his arms latched around Jungkook's shoulders, Taehyung still went on about how unbearably hot he felt.

"Okay, I get it," the younger spoke, dragging him out of the restaurant as gently as he could with one hand holding his Valentino bag as well as his own rucksack and the other slung around the vampire's waist. Waving his friends goodbye awkwardly, he left the restaurant with a sloshed Taehyung clinging onto him limply and barely being able to follow him, the chilly autumn night's air hitting his face the moment he opened the jingling door. "Um, do you want me to carry you?," he asked when he heard the older sigh deeply.

"No, that's fine. I'm just hot," Taehyung slurred, tightening his hold around Jungkook and pushing his head into his shoulder which caused the other's eyes to widen. "O-Okay, the taxi's right over there. Hold on," the ravenette assured, fastening his pace and steering towards a quite shabby-looking car with a flashing and blinking 'TAXI'- sign sitting on top of it.

"Where to, boys?," a newspaper-reading, unfazed-looking taxi driver asked in boredom while sipping a cup of warm coffee. Jungkook seated the redhead on one of the backseats carefully, said redhead quietly protesting and flailing around with his arms stubbornly. Feeling quite overwhelmed, the ravenette dodged the older's arms and held them against his body forcefully, fastening the seatbelt around him and observing his current state since he knew Jimin would bombard him with an abundance of questions later on. Man, he felt like he was taking care of a baby.

The vampire's hair was disheveled from him messing it up heavily with his hands, his lips parted and eyes half-lidded, his eyeliner was slightly smudged and his tan skin glistening not too much, but enough to make him look like he was glowing. A weird and tingly feeling crept up inside of Jungkook when seing the usually so stoic male all hot, bothered and unshielded, he couldn't explain.

Simply brushing it off and shaking his head, he took the seat next to Taehyung hurriedly and faced the taxi driver, not knowing what to say. "Uh, Kim? ...Taehyung? Where do you live?"
Much to his luck, the redhead looked up and blinked. He looked towards the taxi driver, smiling a little.

"I don't know the address, sorryyy. But I'll show you the way," he spoke sweetly, blinking at the highly confused driver innocently and yawning. Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief.

How drunk is this guy?

"You don't know your own address?," he asked, Taehyung's head turning and his half-lidded eyes glaring at him fiercely. "So what, you ass? Got a problem with that?" The ravenette decided not to speak any further, simply clicking his tongue and tutting with a shake of his head.

"Go straight, then turn left. And then right. Then, take the U-turn. Then make a turn towards the right and drive straight until you see crossroads. Yes, like that. Ughhh, I'm hot," the redhead whined, opening the buttons of his blazer and struggling to take it off as all he did was pull at his sleeves with sounds of pure frustration leaving him. Jungkook next to him was visibly panicking, throwing alarmed glances at the clearly disturbed taxi driver.

"Hey-- no, keep that on!," he hissed quietly, trying to stop the vampire from stripping off his blazer by holding his wrists and causing another infuriated glare to shoot up from Taehyung.
"Let go of me, you saddle-goose!"

Absolutely not knowing what to say, the ravenette simply sighed and released the other male, hoping he wouldn't stir up even more trouble. Taehyung had finally succeeded in removing the blazer from his body (the piece of clothing was accidentally thrown and discarded on Jungkook who just sighed) and let out a breath of satisfaction, leaning back in his seat and smiling. "Much better. When are we there, Sir?"

"Uhh, that depends. Where do I go from here?," the driver asked carefully, the redhead squinting his eyes to check the cab's current location. He clapped excitedly when he recognized it passing their pearly white university building.

"Almost there. Go straight and turn right when you see that weird, muddy traffic sign that leads towards the spooky alleyways. Yup, just like that." Luckily, his amazing sense of orientation also remained when he was drunk. Jungkook, on the other hand, frowned. Taehyung didn't seem like the type to live in a deserted alleyway. Was he some kind of double agent or something? Was he even safe there?

Evidently, he did not know about the luxurious, palace-like manor hiding behind those creepy walls, amidst all those eerie and naked trees.
Or, not anymore.

"Amazing, we're there," the vampire cheered cutely when the vehicle made its stop right in front of the alleyway, the streets littered with an abundance of dead leaves and the walls so high and dark that you could barely see beyond them.
"So, you kids gonna pay cash or card?," the driver asked, payment being his only motivation to get through this exhausting night.

"Oopsie. I forgot my wallet," Taehyung mumbled, checking his fingernails in the most unfazed manner he could've mustered. Jungkook widened his eyes, panicking once again. "What? I don't have mine, either!"

"What the fuck are we going to do now?," he hissed, watching the taxi driver's impatient eyes in an alarmed manner. Taehyung yawned once again, stretching out his arm and using his fingertips to pat the younger's head softly, said younger flinching at his touch.
"Relax, sweetheart. I got this." He smiled confidently.

He then loosened his seatbelt and hopped toward the front, seating himself next to the driver elegantly. "Sir," he whispered softly, propping his chin on his hand and blinking innocently. "There seems to be a bit of a problem..."

He then leaned forward and captured the driver's surprised eyes, his lips curving into a sultry smile. "You wouldn't have a problem helping us out, right?" When the other just nodded as if he were in trance, he leaned forward even more and grabbed the stranger's collar. "Cool."

"Unfortunately, it seems as if we have spent all our money on dinner tonight. How about you help two broke college students out and give us this ride for free, also drive my dear friend home after I'm gone, hm?," he spoke lowly with his pupils dilating and contracting, the energy oozing from his orbs into the other man's, said other man nodding while being in a trance for real this time.

"Of course..."
The redhead grinned, letting go and swinging himself out of his seat. "Great! Thank you, kind Sir."
Opening the door and jumping out happily, Taehyung dusted off his clothes and ran a hand through his messy fringe, just about to vampire-speed all the way home to his mansion when suddenly, a hand pulled his shoulder back and he was forced to look into two way too familiar eyes, this time holding nothing but confusion and shock.

"What the hell did you do? The cab driver just told me he'd give me a ride home for free!" The vampire simply shrugged.
"I have my charms." He winked and then yawned, feeling fatigue overroll him once again. Throwing his head back, he gasped when he saw the beautiful night sky, littered by thousands of twinkling, glittering stars.

"Wow. Starry night," he whispered in awe, Jungkook looking up aswell and feeling his heart slightly swell at the gorgeous sight. He did love pretty sceneries a lot. And in that moment, he felt the weird, tingly feeling creep up again. As much as Kim Taehyung tended to annoy and irritate him, after this highly preposterous cab drive, he was also kind of... impressed? Intrigued? He did not know.
The redhead was strange, but a good kind of strange.

"Oh gosh, I'm dizzy," Taehyung exclaimed after spinning around and watching the sky for a good twenty seconds, feeling his clumsy self lose balance and almost crash with Jungkook if the younger hadn't noticed in time and steadied him with two hands on his lower back.
"Can you walk? I can walk you home if you want, Jimin's gonna kill me if something happens to you," he suggested, almost getting worried.

The vampire shook his head and his arms, which had been previously clinging onto the ravenette's neck, loosened themselves. "Nope, that's fine." Said ravenette raised his eyebrows.
"Are you sure? You're pretty shitfaced. And these alleyways look creepy, what if there's robbers or pervs lurking around somewhere? I wandered around a lot at night when I was a kid, I've seen some shit." Taehyung shook his head.

"It's safe and protected here. Believe me when I say I'm the only one who knows how to handle this place. Bye for now, and by the way. You're annoying most of the time. But today, you were kinda cute." With that statement and one last little smile, he turned around and disappeared among the walls of the alleyway, leaving Jungkook with a bunch of unanswered questions and few goosebumpe spreading over his body when Taehyung called him 'cute'.

"Hey! Jimin will want to check up on you, what's your number?," he wanted to ask, deciding to follow the redheaded male and save his phone number for emergency cases. However, the second he tried to enter the alleyway like Taehyung did, he could not get through.

It was as if there was a barrier, an invisible glass wall holding him back but no matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't get any further. Despite there being no gate! Was he drunk too? Or why couldn't he get through to the alleyway?

He gave up and tried to mentally brush it off, feeling shivers crawl up his spine. He must be dreaming or hallucinating. He did not know why, but this place gave him a strange gut feeling. And an odd, creepy sense of familiarity.

He ran back towards the shabby cab with the still dazed-looking taxi driver inside, mind blank with confusion.

What in the world was this weird place and what did Kim Taehyung have to do with it?

°○●○●○°

The first two mornings after getting drunk were usually the worst for Taehyung.

Apart from the pain seeping through his entire head aswell as the nausea floating within his insides like some kind of stupid virus, he had cases of paranoia or suspicion. Extreme ones. Maybe it was a vampire thing.

So, as he sat through his law & criminality course the Monday after, he actually found something important. If it was just the hangover that led to that or more, he did not know. But finally, he had his first suspect that he definetely planned on presenting to Mina.

He did not find his suspect by purely observing anyone's actions or looking out for sketchy-looking faces, his suspicion was based entirely on gut feeling. However, it was an extreme one. And given all the time he had stayed alive and practically looked evil in the eye, it had to mean something, paranoia or not. Right?

His first suspect turned out to be no one else than their very own college professor, Mr. Kim. The one he had always sensed giving him dirty glares and looks of pure distaste. Of course there was a possibility of him simply overreacting about that, but Mr. Kim as a person gave him an extremely bad, almost evil vibe. And again, familiarity.

Something he didn't feel regarding literally any other person inside this building.

The teacher's full name was Kim Seokjin, and he had a habit of walking around the room with his sleeves rolled up while mostly watching his students like a hawk. Perhaps, he could tell Taehyung never paid attention in his classes and therefore didn't like him and tended to glare at him a lot.
But there was something else about him that gave Taehyung's intuition a bad feeling.

The sleeves.

The way the brown-haired man rolled up his sleeves just seemed so... careful. As if he had something big to hide. Something that made him anxious. Now, Taehyung may not be the most witty creature on earth but he just knew this teacher had a secret. Something deep, maybe even something that had to do with supernaturality, which would be a bingo for him and Mina.

The way he kept glancing at the little watch-like thing inside his pocket as if it were about to run away anytime. The way he kept checking his sleeves and arms as if there was something forbidden painted on them. And in Mr. Kim's eyes, Taehyung could sense more than simple strictness to check if his students were paying attention, sometimes. Every now and then, nervosity flickered inside them.

The students simply adored Kim Seokjin: he was quite the good teacher, handsome and he even knew how to crack a joke or two. He was also highly opinionated, but not in an obnoxious or discriminatory way, an easy-going one. Yet he knew how to stay respectful and professional. He was many things at once and the students loved that, Taehyung was the only one who saw more than that behind his totally cool and easy-going but still strict uni professor-facade.

Something he definetely would have to look more into in the future.

At first, his little uncomfortable gut feeling was just that: a gut feeling. However, it gradually became more and more and eventually so big that he couldn't ignore it anymore. There was something up with this guy.

And his suspicions were confirmed when he saw a tattoo on the man's forearm as said man was pulling down his sleeves hastily at the end of Monday's lesson.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: okay you must be wondering 'tf is going on in this story and what the hell does this author smoke' but it's still very early, things will probably make sense sooner or later so like please have patience with meee3ee, i like being mYsTeRiOuS

also i've been thinking about something very random lately,,, the age of consent is 14 in my country and can i just say, i think that's way too young? personally i think 16 should be the limit at least like fhjsjjsiw come on there's no way kids that young are capable of doing the deed😭😭 i doubt they even get taught what consent is? idk if this is a europe thing or if germany is the only one with such weird laws but either way just... wow

anyways i hope you kinda enjoyed this chapter (it was fun to write at least), thank you for reading it and i love you byebye💜💜)