Edward and the Jampires

Chapter 17

Jimin is excited for the Battle of the Bands, and he could definitely benefit from something to get excited about. It has been a while since they have performed at a large event, and some friendly competition is always exciting. No one in BTS knew who they would compete against, and in truth, they didn't quite understand why they were there, but they looked forward to it nonetheless, even if just a month ago they were spontaneously turned into vampires. Well, most of them are excited, except for Jungkook, who currently paces back and forth. For a musician, his performance anxiety gets pretty bad. Jimin catches his hand to halt the pacing.

"It's going to be fine," Jimin says in hopes to reassure him.

"I just have a bad feeling about this," Jungkook says softly, and deep inside, Jimin didn't disagree. Something wasn't sitting well with him either, but he tries to hold onto his excitement and ignore the odd sense of foreboding. The rest of the band is a mix between anxious and excited as the first band is called on stage. The crowd screams and the BTS band members all rush to the stage entrance to watch their performance which is admittedly, nearly flawless. As they finish, a mysterious figure approaches them.

"Ah, you all must be BTS," he says, he sounds excited but his voice is tinged in darkness.

"That's us. And you are..." Jin asks somewhat suspiciously.

"I'm just the guy that threw this all together. Call me Taylor," he replies casually as he inspected everyone.

"I heard that this month has been a rough one for y'all? Is that so?" Taylor asks nonchalantly.

"And what would you know about that?" Suga says pointedly, trying to gauge if he knew about their situation, or even if he could have caused it. The band is on edge and grows increasingly more suspicious with the ordeal.

"Oh, nothing, just thought I would check up on you. We wouldn't want anything unfortunate to happen, would we?" He says, feigning innocence as he raises an eyebrow.

"Of course not," Jin replies pointedly. The first band makes its way offstage and Taylor dismisses himself as he approaches them. The BTS members share a knowing look.

"I told you that I had a bad feeling about this!" Jungkook mutters.

"You might be right..." J-Hope adds. The crowd grows louder again in anticipation of BTS, and they hesitantly walk onstage. Even though he has been a vampire for a while, the scent of blood fills Jimin's head. That's funny, he thinks to himself. I haven't reacted to people like this for a while... but then he realizes that the thin paper programs were cut to be nearly razor-sharp and every once and a while, someone would accidentally get a papercut.

"Someone is messing with us," he says as he starts to feel dizzy. The others nod and it looks like J-Hope was responding, but the music turns on and their routine begins. They go through the movements and motions with less ease than before, and while the average audience member probably would never notice that anything is amiss, anyone with any sort of training would know that something is not quite right. In the middle of the dance, Jimin glances to the side only to meet Taylor's smirking face as he looks down on the band. By their last pose, the band's timing was off just a little bit, but it was enough. Jimin knows that they lost. The crowd still breaks out in applause, and Taylor mockingly joins in from the sides. The band waves and bows before rushing off-stage.

"Well done, but I don't think it was enough to take the prize..." Taylor says softly.

"There's a prize?!" One of the band members from their competition rushes from a curtain that they tucked themselves into probably to eavesdrop.

"Yes. You can leave," Taylor says smugly.

"So it will be delivered then?" the guy asks in a state of confusion.

"That is the prize, and I would take it if I were you!" Taylor says in a fake storm of rage. After the scared band member runs back to the others, Taylor regains composure.

"This isn't quite over for you all, I'm afraid," he says. The boys share a glance and Jungkook's head falls into his hands as he realizes that things would definitely go downhill from there. Suddenly,Taylor snaps his fingers and everything disappears. The doors fade away, all objects turn to blankness, and the only people that remain are the BTS members and Taylor.

"What the h-" Suga says, but is cut off again by another snap. The BTS members all fall into a state of unconsciousness and Taylor laughs.

"Now that's more like it!" he says excitedly as he begins preparations for the game.