The Coven: Book 1 | ✔️

Chapter 2 - High Fever

The guys had all gone downstairs and Jungkook was now the only one that had stayed by his room's door, waiting for the verdict on the woman's health. It had now been two hours since Jackson had gone inside with Ellie. And Jungkook was growing terribly impatient. At first, he was able to hear Jackson and his sister mumble between themselves how horrible the female had looked, and how he hoped 'those bastards' would die slowly.

Then, more quiet came. Jackson only instructed Ellie to do things at times. He heard gloves snapping, fabric being cut, the rustling of more fabric, metal utensils that he didn't recognize the sound of and then some strange snapping sounds.

It was too quiet and tense. And it was beginning to drive him completely crazy.

He leaned back against the wall of the hall and closed his eyes, trying to listen in to what was going on inside the room.

When the door suddenly opened, Jungkook almost shit his pants with how sudden it was. Ellie's beautiful crown of mahogany brown hair peaked from the door and looked for someone.

"Jungkook? We're done- "

He jumped like he had been bit in the butt.

"So? How is she?"

Ellie frowned and hesitated, looking behind her, inside the room.

"She... she is pretty bad. I think if you want to give her your blood, now is the time. If you don't, I don't believe she'll last a day. Come in." Ellie moved aside and let Jungkook inside the room again.

The woman was still in bed, of course. But he could see she had been undressed and was now only covered with the thick blanket. Her hair was now moved to the side as well.

"I'm going to examine the evidence I took with the rape kit, but from what I saw," Jackson started, dismissing his used gloves and then beginning to tidy up his utensils "it doesn't look like she was raped. From what I was able to feel, also, she seems to have at least three broken ribs, a broken clavicle, some of her organs are also damaged and I think she has an internal bleeding. The only chance she has now is your blood, so I suggest we administrate it fast."

Jungkook felt his heart sink a bit when hearing how badly hurt the young woman was. There was no way she would have survived another couple hours in the cold, in the middle of the forest.

"Hoseok said she was growing a fever, anything we can do about that?"

"Your blood won't alter her temperature. Maybe cold washcloths on her forehead are the best way to go for now, since I think her internal bleeding is the main problem. Just call me if her temperature alters too much and I'll administer an antibiotic."

Jungkook nodded quick, already stripping of his leather jacket and then pulling up his shirt's sleeve, so that Jackson could draw blood. The doctor got to work fast, placing the catheter in Jungkook's arm as well as on the woman's arm, so that the blood would flow to her fast.

"Why would demons hurt her?" Ellie asked, using her finger to remove a stray hair from the girls features.

"Those bastards don't have a reason to do things. They take pleasure from hurting people." Jackson grumbled.
Ellie frowned then, her attentive green eyes studying the woman's face.

"Hum... Funny."

"What?" Jungkook asked, perking up to look at Ellie.

Ellie was a medium. According to Jackson, Ellie had been the one to predict their parents' death on a car crash. She could sense certain things others couldn't, mainly peoples' auras and their energy. She saw things, little visions and predictions of possible futures and outcomes that she could sometimes prevent. Ellie had easily found out the seven of them were vampires the moment they had entered her uncle's bar, that was now hers.
So, her saying something like that, could mean something.

"Her aura is massive. And quite beautiful, too. I've never seen anything like it." Ellie said, smiling at the girl sleeping in bed "I feel like I know her."

Jackson didn't push her to say anything else and Jungkook most certainly wouldn't say anything as well. Ellie didn't like it, and the only thing they would get out of pushing her over the edge was a few more weeks with no blood supply.

And now that he thought about it...

"So, Ellie? I know you're mad at Namjoon and all, but- "

"Don't worry about that. I'll tell Jin to have one of the guys pick up your supply at the bar. Especially you, after giving your blood to her." Ellie said, making her way to the door and exiting.

Jungkook looked at the blood flowing from his vein and then at the woman in bed. Why he felt the need to save her and keep her protected, Jungkook had no idea why. And strange how the fact that he could see her naked shoulders, bruised horribly, and still feel some sort of attraction to her. Her body, even as mistreated as it was, appeared to be elegant, with a beautiful soft skin. But the attraction was... not physical, though. It was a magnetic pull towards her. That he just couldn't avoid.

"Jungkook?"

He looked up at Jackson, who was frowning while looking at the woman.

"Don't get too attached to her. I honestly don't know if she's going to make it. If she rejects your blood, might as well say goodbye."

Jungkook let the guy's words sink in, beginning to feel a rumble at his chest. It took him a minute to understand it was a low growl starting to come out of him, so he coughed, pretending to clear his throat, and then nodded at Jackson again.

Hell, the guy was probably right. But he still had to try, right? He couldn't just leave the poor woman to die without trying something.

Later that night, Ellie came back with a few of her own clothes that she had brought to dress the woman up with the help of Jackson. Jungkook was finally able to get some rest after they left, sleeping on the couch by the window, since he felt weird sleeping on the bed with her. At least she now had comfortable clothes to sleep in.
He woke up pretty late, the next day, finding the girl sweating profusely and breathing heavily. Much like Jackson had requested, Jungkook cleaned her sweat with a clean washcloth, occasionally passing it on her neck and arms.

And the next week was spent exactly like that. Jungkook would stay with the young woman in his room, sleeping on the couch, taking care of her as a terrible fever racked her senses. She wouldn't actually wake up, but at times the woman opened her eyes weakly, only to have them rolling back in her head. A few mumbles sometimes came out of her.

One specific day, Jungkook woke up to have the woman almost screaming, asking for someone to 'stop'. That day she had managed to wake up Jimin, who ended up knocking on Jungkook's door, asking what he could do to help. At some point, Jungkook had to ask him to grab on to the woman's arms, when she started to struggle. For the longest time, she whimpered agonizingly, calling for help and saying she would 'kill them'.

"You think she means the demons that did this?" Jimin asked, frowning in worry.

"Most likely... Sorry she woke you up, by the way." Jungkook mumbled, placing the cold cloth on her forehead again.

"What do you mean, you're sorry? It's not your fault, my man. And it certainly isn't hers." Jimin said, grinning at his younger brother "You look tired, you know? You should let us help."

"I'm okay."

"Are you though? I know we're resilient and all... but you have to feed, Jungkookie."

Jungkook sighed and sat beside the girl, now only whimpering slightly while breathing heavily.

"Yeah, I think giving her my blood every other day is making me easily tired."

"Why don't you go downstairs and have something. I can stay with her to change the wet towel and then I'll leave, while you go."

It took a bit more convincing, but Jungkook eventually let on and went downstairs to get something to eat and feed properly.

It was silent around the house, as usual. Most of the guys would either go out to Ellie's bar or would stay in when they weren't outside in the city, patrolling for demons. Unfortunately, the more they killed, the more there were.

So it was kind of a surprise to see Taehyung sitting on the counter of the large kitchen, peacefully drinking a beer from the bottle.

"Hey, you're in tonight?" Jungkook asked, going to the fridge to find leftovers from dinner.

"Yeah, and look at you! You're out of your room." Taehyung bit out, his tone a bit sarcastic.

"Jimin is upstairs with her."

"Ah! Cause we can't let little miss helpless alone, right?"

Jungkook frowned at that phrasing and looked at Taehyung. Taehyung wasn't exactly the most sociable one, among the guys. The guy was beautiful to the bone, with an ethereal like face and his body so lean and elegant that it almost made him look like a model. He didn't particularly enjoy going to bars with the others and he sure as hell liked to keep to himself. Not that he was a bad person, not the case. He was nice and playful at times, but that was all. This little outburst was indeed a little strange.

"Do you wanna say something to me, or...?" Jungkook said, removing the leftover noodles from the fridge and then reaching for the refrigerator where the blood bags were stored.

"For how long are you gonna keep her there?"

"What, you mean my room?"

"Yeah, your room."

"I don't know. While she's healing, I guess. She's still very delusional, because of the fevers." He casually responded.

Taehyung snickered, his smile seeming bitter.

"You don't even know her! What if demons end up knocking on our door because of her? It's unneeded trouble, Jungkook." Taehyung vented, his mood altering completely as the bitterness in his voice made him spill what was eating up at him.

"What, are you scared of them? It was Jin's decision to bring her here with us. Not mine. "

"Yeah, but you were the one to find her. You should have checked first for tracks of demons around. And then leave her there when you saw them- "

"Are you actually telling me I should have let that woman to die?"

"She's probably a nobody the demons got their hands on to have some fun!"

"I'm gonna give you a chance right now to shut up and not say another fucking word, Tae." Jungkook growled, moving in a threatening way towards the guy.

Taehyung huffed, looking at Jungkook with slight disgust in his face.

"You're getting attached... I'm only going to warn you because I'm gonna love saying 'I told you so' as soon as things go south. We don't know this woman and having her here when she's clearly being followed by demons is a very dumb decision."

Taehyung snickered a bit when Jungkook growled a bit louder and then proceeded to jump off the counter to leave the kitchen.

Well, this was strange. To have Taehyung act like this because he didn't trust the girl was almost ominous. But, then again, Jin was most likely aware of what it meant to have her in the house. Especially considering there were demons on her track.

Jungkook's mood only worsened when thinking about the conversation with Taehyung. He ate quickly and with no particular hunger. It was mostly just to keep his body going, much like the blood he almost chugged down in basically a minute.

"Well, aren't you looking happy. What happened?" Yoongi asked, his usual grin a bit dimmed by the tired bags under his eyes.

"Taehyung decided to act like a little bitch."

"What did he say?"

Jungkook explained the whole of the conversation with the guy to Yoongi, who was now munching on some nachos.

"Well, I kind of understand why he's worried, but there's really no reason to act like a bitch. How is she doing, by the way?"

"Most of the swelling on her face is dimming, the cuts on her body are all healed. So she didn't reject my blood, I guess. By now her clavicle and broken ribs should be much better too. Ellie should be arriving in a bit, as well. Jackson is giving me the results of the rape kit. And Ellie wants to take care of her."

"Hum! Honestly, thank God for Ellie. If only Namjoon wasn't such a prick. It's good your girl is healing well, though."

Jungkook almost choked "She's not my girl... I'm just taking care of her."

"Yeah, well, that gives you some rights. She's your girl to take care of." Yoongi shrugged, grabbing his bag of nachos and moving out of the kitchen.

Namjoon walked inside the kitchen not long after.

"Aren't you supposed to be on duty, today?" Jungkook asked, looking at the man as he opened the cabinets.

"Yeah, but I woke up late. I'll head out in a bit."

"Jin is gonna fucking murder you."

"Yeah, I know- Who the fuck ate my nachos!!"

Taehyung scoffed when he saw Jimin leave Jungkook's room and close the door behind himself. The man went for the stairs, probably to join Jungkook in the kitchen. Taehyung's cold eyes focused on the door to his brother's room for a second. He didn't understand it.

Why was Jungkook so keen on helping this woman. If she was just a human, why would it matter if he left her to die or not? What if the reason the demons were after her was something more? Because demons may be thick headed dipshits that only really cared about feeding, but they weren't completely stupid. Taehyung doubted they didn't have a reason to be after her.

Suddenly feeling curious beyond belief, he dropped his hand from where it was poised on the knob of his door and slowly made his way down the hall. He went the opposite way to his room, now, heading towards Jungkook's. He had no clue what made him do it, but for some strange reason he opened the door and walked inside.

There she was...

The unknown female was lying on Jungkook's bed, her dark hair pooling around her head on top of the soft pillows. Making his way to the bed, he saw how her skin no longer seemed the scary pasty white beneath the horrifying bruising. Her arms were on top of the sheets, snuggled close to her body, and Taehyung felt odd seeing the soft skin still healing from the bruises and cuts along her forearms. They weren't as dark, now much more faint and softer, and the cuts were now healing. Because of Jungkook's blood in her veins, those cuts would heal flawlessly without leaving a scar.

Which was something he couldn't wrap his head around.

Jungkook had so easily given his blood to this woman without even knowing her.

Taehyung noticed her hands were delicate and elegant, almost fragile as they were graciously poised on her stomach. They also weren't as bruised, as before, now with the cuts on her knuckles and fingers mostly gone. Remembering something in particular from the night she had been found, Taehyung raised his hand to grab hers and turn her palm up. The large gush that had been there, with the skin irritated and almost festered, was now just a pink mark across her hand.
His fingers slid across her skin, finding it soft and pleasant to the touch. Her hand was smaller against his, and that made him warm. Frowning, he suppressed such thoughts and placed her hand back down on her stomach, where it was.

A soft whimper and mumble brought his attention to her features. The young woman had started to breathe heavily, frowning deeply in her sleep. She seemed distressed, like a nightmare was starting to break through in her mind. A small complaint left her parted lips and she turned her head slightly, now fully facing him, and Taehyung was surprised with her opening her eyes the slightest bit. They were a pretty color of dark chocolate, dazed in her feverish state.

She stared at him for what felt like an eternity. It was like staring into a pool of darkness, her eyes holding a million mysteries in them. He held her stare for a few seconds, until she finally rolled her eyes closed.

He knew this feeling starting to bloom in his gut. And loathed every bit of it.
When Taehyung finally left Jungkook's room, he was bubbling in fury. He needed to convince Jin to let this woman go. There was no way he would allow her to destroy his family. He wouldn't let history repeat without doing something.

~ Sass 😘