Long story short, all three of Taehyung's Christmas guests had to stay the night.

It was quite unexpected, but nothing to worry about. The vampire had five guest rooms which were all unused, clean and no embarrassing or incriminating gadgets placed inside them.

As Chaeyoung had said before, there was a huge blizzard raging outside, wind howling as loudly as police sirens and snowflakes as thick as marbles swirling through the air aggressively. Not even Taehyung himself would fancy going outside under such circumstances, vampire speed or not. The weather was simply dreadful.

The vampire then decided to let Jungkook stay in the very guest room he had stayed in about fifteen years ago, which the ravenette acknowledged with a huge smile. He still seemed to remember every bit of staying at the mansion, his eyes flickering around every single corner of it in pure admiration. For a second, it was almost as if he were a child again.

Mina, who definetely wasn't too fond of stormy weather and looked extremely nauseated for the rest of the evening, requested to share a bedroom with Chaeyoung which Taehyung graciously permitted as she really looked extremely sick- scared, even. The witch then stumbled up the stairs slowly, guided by her special pink-haired friend who had an arm draped around her shoulders.

The night of Christmas Eve had ended peacefully: Taehyung, sitting up against the headboard of his divine bed in silky pyjamas whilst painting his toenails glittery red, taking a sip of his blood-champagne drink in the same shade of glittery red every once in a while and subconsciously humming a Christmas carol's tune that he had heard Jungkook singing just a few hours prior.

Said ravenette was looking around his blissfully decorated guest room that unmistakeably looked exactly the same (apart from the Christmas decorations) like it had the first time he came here, his earphones plugged inside his ears as he bopped his head to the beat of the music, a little smile playing on his lips whilst he twisted the Lapis lazuli-ring Taehyung had gifted him around his fingers and recalled how lovely the vampire had looked this day, a golden hairpin in his fiery red hair and a white flowy shirt with the usual jewellery completing his attire and making him look more like an angel rather than a vampire.

But he didn't mean it like that. He was simply appreciating a good friend's beauty, and nice taste in fashion.

And Mina on the other end of the corridor was wearing one of Taehyung's oldest and fluffiest sweaters, tucked into the warmth of her thick blankets with Chaeyoung lying close to the witch and patting her head, which was resting on her shoulder, softly as she observed the blonde's peaceful sleeping face with a smile on her face, cuddling a bit closer before dimming the lights and leaning over the bed to close the curtains.

°○●○●○°

The days passed, December passed and so did Taehyung's birthday. Since he definetely wasn't too fond of his own birthday and didn't even bother counting his exact age at this point, he didn't feel the need to tell anyone at all and spent the day like he spent any other day. Mina and Chaeyoung, who respected his decision of not wanting to celebrate his birthday, therefore resisted to buy him huge gifts or throw surprise parties but still sent him a heartfelt text message along with some pretty flowers to decorate his living room with.

New Year's Eve passed too, again, not fazing him all too much as it was simply just another mere year starting and there was literally nothing to fuss over. He knew that this was only his perception, as an immortal creature who was cursed to breathe and drink human blood for eternity. Truthfully, he knew there seemed to be no purpose for someone like him, though he preferred not to say it out loud.

Was there anything actually worth living for, as a vampire?

Humans knew their time was limited, and they made sure to live each day as if it were their last. Moreover, they cherished their time and tried to make the best of it and spend as many beautiful moments with their loved ones as possible. So Taehyung could understand the loud and bright fireworks, the loud cheers to start yet another precious year. However, for him, everything was different.

Life was endless. And in exchange, family was temporary. Friendship was temporary, though Mina was surely one of the things he bound his human emotions to, he knew witches weren't immortal. They could live for multiple centuries if they wanted to, much longer than humans could, but where was the limit? As much as he hated to admit it, he knew there was one. He tried not to think of it.

And lastly, love was temporary too. And it was dangerous, poisonous, even. One can't tell when exactly the venom starts seeping through your veins, and that was the very thing that made it dangerous. An emotion that blinds you and weakens you when you least expect it, makes you see through a veil woven of pretensious happiness and sweetness and makes you walk a path of light and pearly white clouds.

That is until the pain kicks in and the poison starks weakening you, a knife cuts through the oh-so-pretty veil and the clouds you walk on darken and get heavier and heavier until you eventually reach the hard ground and your eyes start perceiving what actually is in front of you: lies, infidelity and treachery. And all around you lie puddles of your own blood, sweat and tears that you unconsciously keep shedding, continuously just for the sake of love.
That was his perception of love.

Taehyung had been there many times, dreaming of true and pure love like a madman but receiving nothing but daggers to his back in return. Mina was convinced his biggest weakness was human emotion, but there was one little flaw to her perception.
His biggest weakness was love, above all.

Truly, it was the only thing he'd ever feared, and he swore to avoid ever loving again a long time ago, no matter what it cost. Love was the most sinister way to disguise pain, pain and pain beyond pain. He knew he deserved better than that, and that's why he didn't wish to truly love anyone ever again.

He could like people: He could find Kim Namjoon's dimpled smile attractive, he could find Jeon Jungkook's starry eyes attractive, he could spend his entire afternoon drooling over attractive male celebrities, he could kiss and date for fun. But he couldn't dare let it be any more than that, ever. However, that was exactly the problem. He never saw where the limit was and in the wink of a moment, he would fall again.

He had spent over a century doing an amazing job at escaping the vile emotion, prioritizing himself and being quite cold within his heart.
But little did he know, there were certain things trying to fight their way through the massive, icy walls that he had built up during years over years of learning from his own mistakes and foolishness.

And as much as he hated to admit it, a certain raven-haired boy gifting him an expensive bracelet of black obsidians for Christmas was one more heavy block of ice melted and one step closer to expose his vulnerable, pounding heart.

On the first day back after the holidays, students of Cheonsang University looked mightily crestfallen. Their normal everyday life was returning and after grand celebrations and happy days in the snow, the motto "all work, no play" made its reappearance once again.

The only thing that seemed to remotely cheer them up was the fact that their first period after the winter holidays would be taken by Mr. Kim who would surely throw in some funny jokes to make the usual Law & Criminality course a little bit brighter and more enjoyable. However, Taehyung was even less thrilled by his timetable than he had been before. The teacher still made him uneasy by his mere presence.

As always, the professor walked into the classroom with a positive smile on his face, looking dashing as always and making the hushed chatter within the room die down immediately.

"Good morning, class! Don't look so disappointed now, I got something really interesting for you today. Ah, I remember my old student days. The first day after the holidays was always such a hassle to deal with. Still is. No idea why I became a teacher!," he spoke loudly with a laugh, rolling down his sleeves, setting down his bag and pulling out his mysterious watch out of his pocket as usual. Students looked slightly happier now, hoping for a fun first lesson of the new year.

"Our new topic will be prison. All about imprisonment, prison sentences, prisoners, the difference between prison and jail, and different systems in different countries and continents," he continued, clapping into his hands once. "Let me just roll up the whiteboard, we will make a little mind map for you to get introduced!"

Reaching up to pull down the whiteboard, the professor motioned his students to take out their notes and pencils to note down important things with a little hand gesture, everyone complying and reaching into their bags immediately. Taehyung reluctantly did the same, not wanting to get scolded for not following his professor's orders.

"And now, we will-- Oh my god."
A string of hushed gasps sounded through the room, the students' as well as Mr. Kim's eyes trained on the now unrolled whiteboard and widened in surprise.

The whiteboard wasn't blank and white as it was normally supposed to be. There was a drawing on it, a truly terrifying drawing.

With a simple black and red pen, someone had sketched the outlines of a creature, a creature that looked human on first glance but upon seeing its horrible red eyes and fangs as sharp as knives with blood dripping from them, you'd know better. Its mouth was wide open and in its eyes a vicious and sinister look, like it wanted to kill.
Despite only being a drawing made on a whiteboard, the vampire looked eerily alive.

There was no signature left by the evidently very skilled artist and no headline or anything of that sort. Taehyung felt a lump inside his throat, and it was not because he was impressed by how gifted the creator was. He had a hinch of who made this, wasn't it obvious? And he did not enjoy the feeling of it.

"Alright, who in the devil came up with this? Guys, this isn't funny. Why would you try to scare your classmates like this? Not all of us like horror movies!," Kim Seokjin called through the class with a tut, looking a tad queasy himself. A few students had gasped, a few students had even screamed a little and most of them simply gaped at the screen, frozen in utter mortification. Which was understandable, since the drawing did look extremely creepy.

"We aren't in preschool anymore, whoever did this, please raise your hand, clean the board and apologize to your peers. This isn't a nice idea for a back-to-school-prank," the professor scolded, looking around the room provingly and checking for any raised hands. He sighed as everyone remained still. "Okay, if no one has the guts to confess, I'll just choose someone to clean it instead."

The shock within Taehyung faded quickly and transitioned into flaring anger faster than he could blink. How dare he make a joke out of this again? In front of everyone, in front of Kim Seokjin, his main suspect?! Not to mention, someone who actually meant danger for the supernatural community. Hadn't he made it abundantly clear that this was a serious issue? Just because he was his--

"Kim Taehyung, would you please come forward and clean the board?" The vampire froze, his hands beginning to shake.
"Wh-What?" Heads were whipping around and looking at him, making part of him want to just rip them off their bodies brutally. However, he remained completely frozen, especially when the teacher kept staring him down as if he suspected something.

The professor's voice was low and serious. "Clean the board, please. It doesn't matter if you're innocent or not, I just want to teach my damn course." With a lump forming in his stomach, the redhead made his way up to the board with shaky legs and nodded. "Of course, Sir." He grabbed the sponge and wiped it over the board, the illustrated vampire getting washed away bit by bit.

If he doesn't want to waste time, why does he make me clean the board?

He was aware of all the eyes staring right into his back, and he did not enjoy it one bit. What did this mean? Did this have any importance?
Why would he draw something like this, is this his idea of a joke?, he kept asking himself over and over, until the smallest trace of black and red was gone.
"Thank you, you may sit," Mr. Kim spoke curtly, and Taehyung could feel his stare poke into his back aswell.

He turned around and swiftly glanced at the professor's desk from the professor's usual point of view. And apart from his usual leather bag, pens, books and notes, there was something else that stuck out to him.
That golden watch he seemed to be so fond of, keeping his eyes trained on it the entire time.

That 'watch' wasn't a watch at all.
It was a compass.

But that wasn't the strangest thing about it.
Instead of pointing North, the compass' needle relentlessly pointed towards him.

Feeling a cold shower of panic wash over him, he bowed his head a little and tried to appear as unfazed as possible, walking back towards his desk while ignoring everyone's eyes still on him, Jungkook's especially. And as expected, he could see the compass' needle follow him all the way until he was seated.

He felt sick to his guts, and for once, it was not human food that made him feel that way. He planned on finding an excuse that would allow him to head home before lunch.

Headache, bellyache, toothache, whatever. If he were a woman, he would've made his point with menstrual cramps. But he had to find something, he could not stand being inside this building for much longer. He needed to sort his thoughts thoroughly before returning here.

And it seemed that he wasn't the only one feeling that way. For the entirity of the following course, no one was able to focus, their minds on a creepy vampire sketched on a whiteboard.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: yeahhh idrk what to do with this one but i think next one will be interesting? as always all will be revealed in time so don't be confused shdjjsjs👉🏻👈🏻

i'm really excited for bts' festa btw like they always seem to have so much fun and it makes me so happy to see them smile and laugh uwuwu🥺 i can still remember the last one as if it were yesterday like damn time goes by too fast with these amazing lil fluffballs😔

as always i hope you enjoyed this chap and i should rlly go to sleep soon🥰 thank you so much for reading i love you💜💜)