Beast, Blood, & Soul

* 13 *

As we eat our sandwiches, I observe the men sitting around the table. Jimin and V are teasing each other, Namjoon and Yoongi are deep in conversation, and Jin and Hobi are discussing different menu ideas and who is going to take food down to Jungkook.

There is a free and easy manner among them. One that is only achieved through many years together. What they've told me so far tells me that they have been together for at least a century, but their story implied even more time had passed. That makes me feel like a baby sitting with grandpas. Very handsome and sexy grandpas, but the age gap gives me a slight twinge of unease. They look the same age as me, but they are much, much older.

I see a deep intimacy among them. Particularly between Jimin and V., They all share food between them but they have placed a space between their food and mine. They talk about being outsiders, but I can't help but feel like an outsider here. Considering the pull I feel towards them, I feel just a tad jealous.

I go to reach for a grape off of one of their plates and my wrist is grabbed, "No, don't touch the food." I look up in shock as Hobi holds my hand and looks at me in a warning.

"Why?" I draw my hand away, hurt by the severe look in his eyes. Is sharing food with me so bad? Everyone has stopped eating and is staring at us.

"You can't eat food we've been eating. It's not safe." He warns.

I look around the table with a frown, I don't understand what is going on. I see worried faces on everyone. "Why is it not safe?"

"We're poisonous, remember?"

"Yeah...and?" I look at him blankly, waiting for more.

Hobi sighs, "It's in our saliva. Sharing our food could be risky if we've gotten any saliva on anything."

A side of my lip raises, "I don't think you guys have been drooling all over your food, Hobi."

He gives me half a smile in return, "Probably not, but it's better to be safe than sorry. We're not trying to be mean or cut you off, but we don't want you to get sick either." The others go back to eating.

I pick up my sandwich again and take another bite, pondering what Hobi just told me. "How did you learn you were poisonous?" I ask them. I doubt their transformations came with an instruction guide. At least, it never did in any story I ever read.

"The witch was very proud of what she did," Jin replies softly. "As we laid there, hurting and transformed as you see us, she gloated over her victory."

"She was proud of the changes she made to our bodies. She informed us that we would never be able to be around normal people again until we returned to her side. Everything would be denied us. Our humanoid forms would look like blood-sucking monsters, and our animal sides would keep us locked in the forest. Even our saliva prevents us from being with anyone else safely other than each other." Namjoon continues the story.

"So you aren't poisonous to each other, just to others. How long ago was this?" I ask.

"It's been about 500 years now," Yoongi replies.

I gasp a little at that number. 500 years? Good heavens, how can such a curse exist? Poisonous to everyone except to each other. Well, that explains the level of intimacy I see between them. 500 years is a long time to get to know someone.

"That's why your presence here is a worrisome complication," Yoongi continues. "Jungkook is drawn to you, and it seems to be mutual. Our animals care about you. This puts you in a lot of danger. We could hurt you so easily." I felt a moment of warmth when he mentioned their animals, aka them, caring about me.