Eternal War |BTS Supernatural AU Book 3

Chapter 4

The city of vampires was broken down and rotting. Centuries of abandonment showed on its crumbled stones and brick, and it smelled of old dirt and mold. One building stood in its center, frozen in time. The Phoenix knew what that building held, and he made his way through the cobbled streets.

Eunjin had demanded he go ahead to the city and free Hoseok's sister. At what point she started making demands of him, he wasn't sure, but he did as he was told. She made him curious, and he was convinced she and Hoseok were the only two beings in existence to do him any harm.

He made his way through the city's center. He wondered who was taking care of it or if the vampires had a specific magic surrounding the building that harbored their most dangerous criminals. It was tidy without a stone out of place, and the stairs spirals along the sides. On the outside, this building was a rectangular, but on the inside, it was cylindrical.

He pondered over that for a while. He wasn't impressed by any means; he just found the vampires to be extra and annoying, and that meant the direction he needed to go was up.

He was correct. He climbed the stairs to the last floor and found the prison cells. Starved vampires reached out through cells that were encased in a type of magic that the Phoenix was unfamiliar with. He walked down the corridor and glanced briefly into each cell trying to identify each vampire that resided there.

It was towards the end of the hall where he found her. She wasn't reaching out for him the way the others were; she didn't even glance in his direction.

"Jung Hyoson." Everything stilled as she dragged her eyes to meet his. It was like she was staring through him. "It's time to go."

It seemed like she finally registered he was there. She squinted at him and scratched at her head. "I'm unfamiliar with you."

He nodded at that. "It's been a long time since we last met. The last time you saw me, you were laughing as your brother scorched me."

He watched as his words sank in before she cracked a smile. "Ah, yes. You. What brings you here?" Her finger grazed across magic encrusted bars, and he heard her skin sizzle.

"Kim Eunjin sent me."

She dropped her hand to her side and blinked a few times. "You could have started with that."

He grinned at her, all teeth and leer. There was no kindness there, which held no concern to Hyoson. There hadn't been any kindness for her in centuries since she'd been locked away and the city long abandoned. She matched his smile with a wink.

"Please, good sir, let me out of my cage," she said mockingly.

The phoenix knew then that his plan would work. Hyoson was going to be truly unhinged.

——

Namjoon barely looked at Sungjung, but she didn't mind. He must have been so disappointed in her, so she didn't want to feel his eyes on her. She also didn't want him to see her grieve. Jungkook's decision to leave Hoseok and Jina in the parlor as a reminder ate at her very soul leaving her breathless and hollow.

She had moved back into her own bedroom awaiting news that the phoenix arrived with Hyoson. She had voiced her concerns when Eunjin had filled everyone in on her plans, but they fell on deaf ears. Jungkook and Namjoon felt it had been absolutely splendid, so who the fuck cared about everyone else?

There was some comfort in members of the Park clan being there. She had felt intense relief when she saw Jiwoo, but that relief was short lived still. Arguments plagued the manor halls between Jiwoo and Jungkook regarding the remains of Hoseok and Jina. They needed to return to the earth, but Jungkook wouldn't hear of it. Sungjung suspected he had lost sight of their cause.

She was lying on her stomach gripping her pillow and staring blankly at the wall when Namjoon finally came to her. He didn't knock on the door or say anything at all. He had startled her. He had grabbed her ankle, and she had panicked and swung her other leg around, kicking him in the side of the head as she rolled. He went sideways into the wall leaving a dent of dust and wood chips on the floor. He stumbled ungracefully as he found his balance before rubbed the side of his head.

"What the fuck are you doing?" She asked. Her voice was cracked and dry, and her lips felt like they were splitting as she spoke.

"You haven't come back to our room, so I was worried." His voice was the same monotone he'd been using since he had gotten back. It made her scoff.

"Fuck off, Joon." She rolled back onto her stomach.

"I tried to look for them, but it had been too late. It's not my fault."

She mulled over his words, fully registering that he'd been avoiding her because he thought she blamed him. She didn't. She blamed herself for leaving them behind because she was more worried about Namjoon and Hyerin. The grief rattled in her rib cage like a fluttering bird, and in that moment she wanted him to wrap his arms around her and squeeze until she was crushed just so the feeling would stop.

"I know," she said. "How long will they be like that?"

He sighed and sat down. "Until we win."

"I can't win like this, Joon. I can't make it."

He didn't say anything else to her. He placed his head in his hands before rubbing his face. He looked like he wanted to cry just as much as she did, but the fact that he was still holding so much back after everything made her angry again.

"If that's all, you should go back to your room," she told him. She walked to the door and opened it for him. She watched him leave without a single glance back in her direction.

——

Eunjin was pacing. Yoongi was just sitting and reading. The constant tapping sound from her feet across the wood lulled him into a rhythm that kept him relaxed enough to get lost in something else for a while. He hadn't even realized she was mumbling to herself, but it wouldn't have surprised him.

Jungkook had locked them away to their room when Eunjin tried to put up a fight with him. It was more out of fear for his own life than actual anger at her, but it made her restless. Yoongi did suggest she just walk out of their room, but she had said that Jungkook's brother likely had already set a trap to keep her in.

"Yoongi, are you listening?"

He glanced up from his reading with glazed eyes. He had to blink a few times before he fully registered where he was. "No. Should I have been?"

"Probably not," she muttered. "I need Taehyung and Nari in here. You're useless to me right now."

"In that case, I'm going to start reading again. Anything else you need before I do?"

She waved her hand is dismissal and began pacing the room again. It'd been like that for only a few moments before Taehyung started banging on their door shouting that they needed to be dressed before barging in with Pran right behind him.

"He's back," Taehyung said. "They're here."

"It took him longer than I expected it to." Eunjin shoved past him and into the hall. Vampires littered the way as they moved about the manor, and Eunjin found herself  missing the solitude of no one else being around.

In the parlor stood the Phoenix and Hyoson as they both studied the charred remains of Hoseok and Jina. Hyoson showed no emotion as she looked on at her dead brother, but the Phoenix looked mildly annoyed.

"It's ironic he burned," Hyoson finally said. "Eunjin, darling, nice to see you again."

Jungkook came trailing in behind everyone and clapped his hands together in excitement. He was actually smiling, but Eunjin realized which smile it was.

"Hyoson, I bet your hungry. Should we go hunting?"