The Coven: Book 1

Chapter 1 - The Girl in the Woods

"Oi! Jungkook! Tae found a deer up in that trail, hurry up." Hoseok said, a little louder than needed.

Even if the guy didn't shout, Jungkook would still hear him, so, really, why did he speak so loud? Sure, the mountainous forest was deserted, except for the seven of them, but still.

"I truly wish Namjoon would stop annoying our blood supplier." Yoongi grumbled, annoyed at the prospect of the 'green blood'.

Jungkook drew on a grin, remembering Ellie's evil smirk when she told Namjoon to piss off and that all seven vampires were going dry that month. Guess Namjoon hadn't got the memo of 'do not annoy the food supplier'.

Jungkook followed Yoongi through the path mentioned by Hoseok. The group had been divided into two teams. Fortunately, Namjoon had stayed with Jimin and Jin. If he and Yoongi had had to be together on the same team, they would most likely be clawing at each other's throats.

He felt the not so appetizing scent of an herbivore's blood, coming from the top of the trail. Tae was sitting down on a bigger rock, looking at his watch with an impatient look.

"I won, by the way. Jimin said Namjoon hasn't found anything yet." Taehyung said, grinning cocky.

"My guess is you tried a bit harder because you're vexed at the guy." Hoseok said, pressing his lips so he wouldn't laugh.

Yoongi looked at the deer's body, laying on the floor.

"I really don't want this. Can't we go apologize to Ellie? Fuck Namjoon."

Taehyung snorted lightly, while Yoongi looked at the carcass a little desolated.

"Alright, why don't you two keep this one and me and Jungkook go find one for the two of us?" Hoseok suggested, immediately earning a deadly glare from the pale short man with white hair.

"I hope you choke on that blood, you brat."

"You have to eat your greens, Hyung."

This time, both Taehyung and Jungkook erupted in laughter, for Yoongi's annoyance.

Jungkook trailed behind Hoseok, his nose flaring, trying to find some sort of scent that lead to a living animal. He saw Hoseok begin to slow down his pace and follow down a more bumpy way, probably smelling his own hunt. But as Jungkook sniffed the air again, his nose picked up something different.

Hoseok was already down the path he had entered, probably too into the hunt to notice anything else. But Jungkook was now too distracted about the scent he was picking up to worry about his Hyung's hunt. Something sweet, like a flower would smell like, but it was way more soft and sensual. It was odd how it was pulling him away from his brother and towards somewhere else entirely. Just as he entered another path, the scent shifted. Blood, definitely. But it was earthy and sweet, just like it had been initially. Jungkook had never smelled blood like that.

"Jungkook?" He heard Hoseok call behind him "What's wrong?"

"Give me a second."

He followed the scent, trying to discern for any sort of movement around him. The darkness wasn't exactly a problem, as he could see clearly what was around him. The smell of blood was getting closer and closer as he was nearing an open area on the forest. Strange, it most certainly was not animal, but whoever it was, was sick. Most likely dying.

He scanned the place a bit more, now looking for any traces of blood around. And that's when his eyes caught it. There was someone laying on the floor, on the far side of the opening, right beside a tree.

"Did you find anything?" Hoseok asked, a little further away.

Jungkook was just about to answer 'a dead body'. But his ears picked up something. The small, eerily tiny flutter of a heartbeat. And then he was rushing to the side of the person.

"Go get Jin-hyung. Fast!" Jungkook rushed, watching Hoseok's eyes widen when he spotted the body on the ground as well.

Jungkook crouched as soon as he reached the floor, almost flinching when he noticed the body of a young woman. Her small body was laying on the side, one arm loosely twisted in an awkward position, limp and lifeless. She was wearing a black dress, ragged and dirty, with several tears all around it. But what made him wince in distress, was the wounds and bruises on her skin. She had small cuts all around her exposed arms and legs, her feet were bare, and looked lacerated, most likely from walking for too long. The woman's face was covered by her dark, long hair, messy and tangled, leaves lost amidst the dirty strands. He noticed her hands dirty from the dirt and cuts along her palms.

Kneeling on the ground, right beside her, Jungkook slowly and gently began to move aside the strands of hair. He almost cursed aloud when he saw her state. The poor woman's cheeks were bruised, also with those same cuts. Her lips were badly swollen with an open cut on the lower lip.

Even the girl's eyes, although closed, were all bruised and swollen. Like someone had hit her with a closed fist. A man, most likely. What type of monster would do this to a woman?

"Hey, kid, what you got?" Namjoon called, coming from behind Jungkook.

"Hyung!" Jungkook called, looking over his shoulder to look at Jin, who was taking hurried steps toward him.

"What in the world?" Jin mumbled, a little surprised to see the woman there.

"Holy shit... She looks pretty bad." Yoongi said, crouching near the woman to look at her closer.

Jin was studying the woman's state, frowning. At some point, the tall man looked around the area, looking from some sort of clue as to what might have happened to her.

"It looks like she came that way. Probably took the road and ended up getting lost in the forest." Jimin said as he came around the body on the floor.

"You think demons did this?" This time it was Namjoon.

"I don't know. For all I know this could be a human's doing. I've seen them do pretty horrible things." Jin said, rubbing his face in distress "Taehyung, Jimin, go around the area and see if you can find some sort of trail that she left behind. Jungkook, is she alive?"

Jungkook looked back down and placed his two fingers on her neck, feeling up any signs of a pulse. It was faint. Even more so than when he first heard it. But it was there. Just a little flutter, like she was still holding onto life with all her might.

"Barely, but she is." Jungkook said, looking up at Jin.

"Okay... I don't know if this is gonna turn around to bite me in the ass but screw it. Take her to the mansion. Hoseok, go with Jungkook. The rest of us is gonna see if there's anything we can find." Jin ordered, getting up from his position and starting to gesture the guys where to go.

Ever so carefully, Jungkook began to pick up the woman's battered body, slowly lifting her up from the floor. Hoseok helped place her hanging arm on top of her own stomach and head on Jungkook's shoulder.

The trip back to the house was an endless one. Jungkook was a bit on edge. Every time the woman exhaled a little soft breath, he would stop and examine her. It was hard to figure out her features because of how messed up her face was. On her right cheek, right below her cheekbone, there was the clear shape of a knuckle. It was wide, probably from a male. Somehow, that made him angry.

Hoseok went ahead of him so he could open the back door to the mansion and Jungkook stepped in, careful not to bump the girl into anything. As he was going up the stairs, the thought of taking the woman up to one of the guest rooms crossed his mind. But then, as he was walking down the hall, he made a turn to his own room.

Hoseok followed behind him and didn't really question why Jungkook was taking the woman up to his own room. Jungkook began to settle her down on his bed, her body seeming flimsy and weak.

"Shouldn't we try to clean her up? Her wounds at least. Maybe Ellie can help with other things." Hoseok said, pulling out a thick blanket from the closet.

"Yeah. I'll get the first aid kit- "

"S'all good, man, stay with her while I go get it. Try to make her a bit more comfortable."

While Hoseok went to get the first aid box, Jungkook carefully raised the woman's head to place a softer pillow beneath it. He panicked a little when he noticed, now that her neck was even more visible, an enormous bruise in the shape of hands wrapping around the column of her neck. Whoever did this was most definitely trying to kill her. If not, the sick bastard that did it was only drawing pleasure from torturing her.