Blood and Roses || Lee Taeyong

Chapter 42 | "the only way"

"Is this still the right place, Hendery?" She asked through her phone as she pulled up to a dark apartment complex in the middle of the city.

"Yeah, he should be there right now. Your program says you've got about 10 minutes until he should be moving on."

"Got it, thanks."

She hung up the phone, letting out a deep breath as she stepped out of her car. As she looked around, she was shocked that Taeyong would come here. It was a large living complex in the heart of the city. If people were screaming for help, it was impossible for it to go unnoticed.

It only confirmed what Chaerin already knew: Taeyong had a goal. She just had to figure out what it was. Discreetly pulling out her gun, she walked into the oddly familiar building and was shocked to find it empty. The lights were dimmed and the floor was vacant.

Carefully she made her way up the stairs, peaking her head out on every floor snd listening for any sign of life. The eerie silence sent a shiver up her spine.

Chaerin thought back to what Renjun had told her before she left. He was right. She had never seen Taeyong unhinged before.

She's seen him angry and ruthless, but never truly consumed by the darkness that she knew lived in him. It scared her. Not because she thought he'd hurt her, but because she didn't want to believe that the demon side of him was real.

As much as she tried to avoid it, or ignore it, she was about to confronted with the worst parts of Taeyong, and she only hoped that she would be able to handle it.

When she opened the door to the top floor, a glasses in atrium roughly 30 stories above ground, she knew she'd found the right place. Instantly the smell of blood hit her, causing her to screw up her nose. She quickly pulled up her mask to try and block some of the thick, iron laden air.

She walked around and began to see the bodies. Not quite dead, but nearly there.

Johnny was right. Two bullets, torn limbs, and slit throats. Their chests rose and fell rapidly as they clung onto life in a pool of their own blood. Each person's face was contorted in pain with their eyes tightly shut.

Chaerin couldn't help but gasp as she slowly began to recognize the people on the ground, suddenly realizing why the building was so familiar to her.

Her stomach turned as she saw the people she used to pass by everyday in the hallway now lying nearly dead on the ground. There were at least 30 of them. All former classmates she had just graduated with. As she looked around, she was relieved to see that none of them were her friends, but it made her sick nonetheless.

"Taeyong!" She called, seeing his figure as he slit another throat in the center of the room.

His body froze as he slowly turned to look at her, blood splattered on his face and dripping from the knife in his hand. His eyes were dark, so black that she wasn't even sure if he was looking at her. A heaviness hung in the air around him as his mouth contorted into a deep frown.

"You shouldn't be here." He growled lowly. "Leave."

Chaerin gulped. Even his voice didn't sound the same. It was colder. Heavier. Angrier. A drawled on bite to his words. She knew his head wasn't all there just from the unclearness of his voice alone.

"No. Not unless you're coming with me." She replied firmly, holding her ground as he slowly walked towards her.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Then neither am I."

He let out a low growl as he stared down at her, his chest heaving as he tried to control the urge to kill that was screaming inside of him.

"You're going to leave." He spat. "I'm not finished yet."

"Yes you are." She replied, hiding the quiver in her voice. "You should've never started in the first place, but this ends now."

"No." He said with a heaving breath, walking back towards the body he was dealing with. "This ends once I finish it. And it's far from over."

"Is this about him? About Hansol? He's dead, Taeyong." She shouted, seeing him freeze, something in something in him shifting but he stayed silent. "Killing his friends and family does nothing. It doesn't hurt him and it certainly doesn't heal any of my pain. Stop this."

"After everything he's done...." Taeyong growled lowly, picking up his knife again. "This is the only way. It's a hard job but someone's got to do it."

He plunged the knife into his victim's neck once again, a painful gurgling sound coming from the body as blood began to pour from their neck. Chaerin winced, shaking it off and returning her focus to Taeyong.

"You think killing is hard? No. Healing is hard." She yelled. "It challenges the deepest, darkest parts of yourself to choose to try. To choose to fight. And you know who taught me that? You did."

His body froze, his chest heaving up and down as he focused on her words. Chaerin's whole body was shaking, a mix of stress, nerves, and desperation filling her as she continued.

"You taught me that when I almost lost everything. You brought me back." Her voice broke as she called out to him. "You saved me."

He straightened up, his eyes wild with the thrill of killing, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he stalked over to her.

"I might've saved you then, but don't you get it, Chaerin? I'm not a hero, I'm a villain! I'm selfish and impulsive! I wouldn't sacrifice you even if it meant saving the whole world, and I'd gladly destroy the whole world to save you." He growled, clutching tightly onto the knife in his hand.

"This isn't saving me, Taeyong, please stop! This isn't you!" She cried, fighting back tears.

He stared down at her, a craze in his eyes that she'd never seen before. The uncontrollable rage. The thirst for blood. In all her time with the gang, she'd never truly been scared of Taeyong.

She always knew that he wouldn't kill her, he'd always stay in control, but not now. Right now, as much as she tried to hide it, she was terrified of the boy in front of her.

"I can't stop, Chaerin, I won't! Not until every single one of them is lying dead at my feet." He spun around, gesturing to the bodies littering the floor. "No, not even then. I will hunt down everyone they've ever loved and rip their hearts out one by one for hurting you! I-" 

He cut off, spinning back around to face her and finally looking her in the eyes. The moment he did, it was like his whole world stopped.

The only sound that could be heard was the clang from his knife hitting the ground as he dropped it. He continued to stare into her eyes, a pang in his chest like a blade was driving through his heart.

"You're scared of me." He breathed, his voice small and quivering.

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are. I can see it in your eyes, you've never looked at me like that before." She watched his expression morph, obviously distraught by her reaction.

"Taeyong..."

He didn't answer her, instead he stared down at his hands, now disgusted by the blood soaking them that once excited him. His eyes wildly scanned the atrium, suddenly painfully aware of the smell of blood clogging up his lungs.

"What have I done..."