𝕿𝖆𝖊𝕶𝖔𝖔𝖐| 𝓿𝓪𝓶𝓹𝓲𝓻𝓮 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮| ¹⁸⁺

chapter 7

There was a sort of universal gasp. Jungkook went white, his compressed lips showing in a tight line. Hoseok felt as if he were choking on words, on explanations, on recriminations about Jimin's own behavior. Taehyung may have had as many boyfriends as the stars in the sky, but in the end she had given all that up - because he fell in love - not that Jimin would know anything about that .

"Don't have anything to say now?" Jimin was taunting. "Can't find any cute answer? Bat got your tongue?" he began to laugh, but it was forced, glassy laughter, and then words were spilling out of him almost as if uncontrollably, all words that weren't supposed to be spoken in public. hoseok had said most of them at one time or another, but here , and now , they formed a stream of venomous power. Jimin's words were building up to some kind of crescendo - something was going to happen - this kind of force couldn't be contained -

Reverberations, Hoseok thought as the sound waves began building up....

Glass,him intuition told him.Get away from glass.

Jungkook just had time to whirl to Seokjin and shout,"Get rid of the lamp."

And Seokjiin, who was not only quick on the uptake but also a baseball pitcher with a 1.75 ERA, snatched it up and threw it at - no, through -

- an explosion as the porcelain lamp shattered -

- the open window.

There was a similar shattering in the bathroom. The mirror had exploded behind the closed door.

Then Jimin slapped Taehyung across the face.

It left a bloody smear, which Taehyung patted tentatively. It also left a white hand print, turning to red. Taehyung's expression was one to wring tears from a stone.

And then Jungkook did what Hoseok considered the most astonishing thing of all. He very gently put Taehyung down on the floor, kissed him upturned face, and turned to jimin.

He put his hands on him shoulders, not shaking, only holding him still, forcing him to look at him.

"Jimin," he said, "stop it.Come back. For the sake of your old friends who care for you, come back. For the sake of the family that loves you, come back. For the sake of your own immortal soul,come back. Come back to us!"

Jimin just eyed him belligerently.

Jungkook half turned aside, toward Seokjin, grimacing. "I'm not really cut out to do this," he said wryly. "It's not any vampire's forte."

Then he turned toward Taehyung, his voice tender. "Love, can you help? Can you help your old friend again?"

Already taehyung was trying to help, trying to get to Jungkook. he had pulled himself up very shakily, first by the rocking chair and then by Hoseok, who tried to help him under the burden of gravity. Taehyung was as wobbly as a newborn giraffe in roller skates, and Hoseok - almost half a head shorter - was finding him hard to handle.

Jungkook made a motion as if to help, but Namjoon was already there, steadying Taehyung on the other side.

Then Jungkook had jimin turned around, and he was holding his, not letting him dart away, forcing him to face Taehyung fully.

Taehyung, while being held at the waist so that his hands were free, made some curious motions, seeming to draw designs more and more quickly in the air in front of Jimin's face, at the same time clasping and unclasping his hands with the fingers in different positions. he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Jimin's eyes followed the movements of Taehyung's hands as if compelled, but it was clear from his snarling that he hated it.

Magic, Hoseok thought, fascinated. White Magic. he's calling on angels, just as surely as Jimin was calling demons. but is he strong enough to pull Jimin out of the darkness?

And at last, as if to complete the ceremony, Taehyung leaned forward and kissed Park Jimin on the lips.

All hell broke loose. Jimin somehow squirmed out of Jungkook's grip and tried to claw Taehyung's face with his nails. Objects in the room went sailing through the air, propelled by no human force. Namjoon tried to grab Jimin's arm and got a punch in the stomach that doubled him over, followed by a chop to the back of the neck.

Jungkook let go of Jimin to scoop up Taehyung and get him and Hoseok out of harm's way. He seemed to assume that Seokjin could take care of himself - and he was right. Jimin swung at Seokjin, but Seokjin was ready. he grabbed Jimin's fist and helped him in the direction of the swing. Jimin landed on the bed, twisted, and then rushed Seokjin again, this time getting a grip on his hair. Seokjin pulled free, leaving a tuft of hair in jimin's fingers. Then Seokjin got under Jimin's guard and hit him squarely on the jaw. Jimin collapsed.

Hoseok cheered and refused to feel guilty about it. Then, for the first time, as Jimin lay still, Hoseok noticed that jimin's fingernails were all there again - long, strong, curved, and perfect, not one of them chipped or broken.

Taehyung's Power? It must be. What else could have done it? With just a few motions and a kiss, Taehyung had healed Jimin's hand.

Seokjin was massaging his own hand. "I never realized it hurt so much to knock people out," he said. "They never show it in movies. Is it the same for guys?"

Namjin flushed. "I...uh, I've never actually..."

"It's the same for everyone, even vampires," Jungkook said briefly. "Are you all right, Seokjin? I mean, taehyung could..."

"No, I'm fine. And hoseok and I have a job to do." he nodded at Hoseok, who nodded weakly back. "Jimin's our responsibility, and we should have realized why he really had to come back this last time . he doesn't have a car. I'll bet he used that downstairs telephone and tried to get somebody to pick him up, but couldn't, and then he came upstairs again. So now we have to take him home. Jungkook, I'm sorry. It hasn't been much of a visit."

Jungkook looked grim. "It's probably as much as Taehyung could take, anyway," he said. "More than I thought he could take, honestly."

Namjoon said, "Well, I'm the one with the car, and Jimin is my responsibility, too," he said. "I may  be a boy, but I'm a human."

"Maybe we could come back tomorrow?" Hoseok said.

"Yes, I suppose that would be best," Jungkook said. "I almost hate to let him go at all," he added, staring at the unconscious Jimin, his face shadowed. "I'm afraid for him. Very much afraid."

Hoseok pounced on this. "Why?"

"I think - well, it may be too early to say, but he seems to be almost possessed by something - but I have no idea what. I think I have to do some serious research."

And there it was again, the ice water dripping down Hoseok's back. The feeling of how close the frigid ocean of fear was, ready to topple down on his and take him on a swift trip to the bottom.

Jungkook added, "But what's certain is that he was behaving strangely - even for Jimin. And I don't know what you heard when he was cursing, but I heard another voice behind it, prompting him," He turned to Hoseok. "Did you?"

Hoseok was thinking back. Had there been something - just a whisper - and just a beat before Jimins voice came? Less than a beat, and just the faintest of sibilant whispers?

"And what happened here may have made it worse. he called on Hell at a moment when this room was saturated with Power. And Fell's Church itself is at the crossing of so many ley lines, it isn't funny. With all that going on - well, I just wish we had a good parapsychologist around."

Hoseok knew they were all thinking of Sunoo.

"I'll try to get him to come," Seojin said. "But usually he's off in Tibet or Timbuktu doing research these days. It'll take a while even to get a message to him."

"Thank you." Jungkook looked relieved.

"Like I said, he's our responsibility," Seokjin said quietly.

"We're sorry to have brought him," Hoseok said loudly, rather than hoping that something inside Jimin could hear him.

They said their good-byes separately to Taehyung, not sure of what might happen. But he simply smiled at each of them and touched their hands.

By good luck or by the grace of something far beyond their understanding, Jimin woke up. he even seemed mostly rational, if a little fuzzy, when the car reached him driveway. Namjoon helped him out of the car and walked him to the door on his arm, where Jimin's mother answered the doorbell. he was a mousy, timid, tired-looking woman who did not seem surprised to be receiving his daughter in this state on a late summer afternoon.

Namjoon dropped the bys off at Hoseok's house, where they spent a night in worried speculation. Hoseok fell asleep with the sound of Jimin's curses echoing in his head.

Dear Diary,

Something is going to happen tonight.

I can't talk or write, and I don't remember how to type on a keyboard very well, but I can send thoughts to Jungkook and he can write them down. We don't have any secrets from each other.

So this is my diary now. And...

This morning I woke up again. I woke up again! It was still summer outside, and everything was green. The daffodils in the garden are all in bloom. And I had visitors. I didn't know exactly who they were, but three of them are strong, clear colors. I kissed them so I won't forget them again.

The fourth one was different. I could only see a shattered color, laced with black. I had to use strong words of White Power to keep that one from bringing dark things into Jungkook's room.

I'm getting sleepy. I want to be with Jungkook and feel him holding me. I love Jungkook. I would give up anything to stay with him. He asks me, Even flying? Even flying, to be with him and keep him safe. Even anything, to keep him safe. Even my life.

Now I want to go to him.

Taehyung

(And Jungkook is sorry about writing in Taehyung's new diary, but he has to say some things, because someday maybe he will want to read them, to remember. I've written down his thoughts in sentences, but they don't come that way. They come as thought-fragments, I guess. Vampires are used to translating people's everyday thoughts into coherent sentences, but Taehyung's thoughts need more translation than most. Usually he thinks in bright pictures, with a scattered word or two.

The "fourth one" that he talks about is Jimin Forbes. Taehyung has known jimin almost since babyhood, I think. What bewilders me is that today jimin attacked him in almost every way imaginable, and yet when I search Taehyung's mind I can't find any feelings of anger or even any pain. It's almost frightening to scan a mind like that.

The question I'd really like to answer is: What happened to Jimin during the short time he was kidnapped by Jake and Jungwon? And did he do what he did today of his own free will? Does some remnant of Jake's hatred still linger like miasma, tainting the air? Or do we have another enemy in Fell's Church?

And most importantly, what do we do about it?

Jungkook, who is being pulled from the compu.