Euphoria

4 - stories and shadows

"Well, I was turned year ago-"

"You've only been a vampire for a year?" Seokjin screeches.

"-by some weirdo I've never been able to track down," Jeongguk continues, shooting Seokjin a dirty look. "I was heading home after helping out sabom at his taekwondo class – I'm a black belt, by the way," he adds with a wink in your direction that doesn't fail to make you blush. You've always had a thing for taller boys who could protect you. "-when I was ambushed."

You gasp. "Ambushed?"

The young vampire stares off into space, looking a little gloomy. His icy cold fingers thread around your warmer ones, and you find yourself squeezing his hand, trying to comfort him. He returns the gesture, taking in a shuddering breath. ""Not so much ambushed, as jumped from behind."

He tries to hide his flinch from you, blue eyes submerged in sadness. "I'll never forget those red eyes. It hurt so bad-" he chokes a little, wrapping his arms around you in an attempt to comfort himself. "I never thought I'd know how dying feels like, but," he laughs mirthlessly. "I do, and I'm only twenty-two."

He rests his head on your shoulder, and you can feel him shaking.

"Fück, I can't even cry properly," the vampire grumbles. "Last time I tried, blood came out of my eyes. I freaked so hard I blacked out."

You sigh with a soft smile. "Oh, Jeonggukkie."

Seokjin clears his throat, lips pursed. "Well, if you two are going to flirt all night, I'm going to head back to bed. There's no point in me being here if I'm just going to third-wheel."

"That's f-" You're cut off by a yawn, and Jin's infamous 'mom face' switches on.

"That's it, you're going to sleep too. Right now. You act like you don't need sleep, but you've got school tomorrow."

"It's fine, I'll just nap in class-" Your protest is cut off by another massive yawn.

The older man fixes you with a glare. "You're going to sleep, Y/N, and that's final."

"You're so bossy, no wonder nobody wants to date you," you grumble affectionately.

"Jin's right," Jeongguk pipes up. He makes no effort to disentangle your bodies. "You should sleep. Both of you are mortal and require a decent amount of sleep to function properly. I, however, am not. I don't need sleep, but I can stay with you until you do-"

"I don't trust you two alone in the same room," Seokjin grunts. "Besides, Jeongguk, we need to talk." His eyes narrow. "In private."

The vampire gulps, obviously fearing the witch in mama bear mode. "Alright, then." He pecks your forehead and tucks you in, both of you blushing as he does it. "Good night, Y/N. I'll see you tomorrow."

You yawn, burrowing under the covers. "G'night, Guk."

Your roommate looks a little offended. "Don't I get a good night too? We all know I deserve one."

You snort, hiding under the blanket to escape Jin's wrath, if any. "Whatever."

"How rude," The witch remarks. Jeongguk just laughs.

That night, you fall asleep thinking of vampires with blue eyes.

You spend the next day in a complete haze of exhaustion. Thankfully, none of your friends question your behavior – all of you are regularly half-asleep at school anyway, nothing is unusual. Soon enough, school is over.

Sadly for you, school isn't the only pain you have to suffer through - you still have to head to the drama studio halfway across the city and teach kids drama skills for an hour and a half so you can pay your share of the rent. You don't even like kids, but they constantly cling to you with cries of "Miss Y/N! Miss Y/N!"

Maybe it's your face - most of the time you're not particularly inclined to talk to people, but they take you as a sociable person because of your expressions.

After grabbing a very speedy dinner afterwards, it's already nine at night.

You laugh bitterly to yourself. It's already nine at night, but you're still feeling groggy, and you've been off the whole day. You can't help but regret not taking up your friend's offer of a free coffee. You don't even drink coffee, but you desperately need a source of caffeine.

As you drag your weary body down the empty roads, things start getting weird (again). This time, you're not even in a shady alley, but you swear you're hearing things, and possibly seeing things too.

Did that shadow just move?

You dismiss it as a fragment of your imagination: you're deprived of sleep, after all, and you haven't touched a single drop of caffeine. Right now, milk tea sounds really, really nice...

But you can't shake the feeling that you're being followed. You hasten your steps, panic and adrenaline clearing your mind in preparation for 'fight or flight'. You pick flight. Soon enough, your slow walk turns into a fast stride, and you're now jogging in paranoia.

You hear the roar of a motorbike, and the thundering of footsteps behind you. By the sound of it, there are at least two people behind you.

"Y/N, run!" A familiar voice cuts through the night. You whirl around in alarm. Jeongguk is charging towards you with superhuman speed, Jin not too far behind. Jin is riding on what looks like a flying motorbike. Since when did Jin own a motorbike?

"Don't touch her!" Jeongguk bellows.

You turn around and see red eyes and lips twisted up in a bloody smile. Something sharp pierces the skin of your throat, and you let out an inhuman scream as pain overwhelms your mind, pain like nothing you've ever felt before.

Are you dying? It feels like your neck is being ripped apart.

That's the last thing you think before you start to lose consciousness, feeling yourself falling, falling, falling...

Jeongguk howls, furious and vengeful, and the whole world goes black.