Traitor's Song

23. Hold The Applause

When they reached their destination, Jin steered the boat up to the dock and reached out a hand to tie it off. Hobi noticed Henley walking down towards them on the shore. He couldn't get the smile off his face as he clambered out of the boat. He walked down the dock to wrap Henley in a hug, causing a giggle to fall from her mouth.

"I'm glad you all are back," said Henley. "It looks like the storm is going to start soon."

Jimin stayed in the boat beside Taehyung for a moment. Taehyung was just staring at the shore at Henley and at the man standing beside her with something in his arms. It was hard to tell from the boat just what that something was. Taehyung clutched the blanket tighter about him looking as if he was about to strangle himself with it.

"Come meet everyone," said Jimin. "You'll like Henley and Jungkook."

Taehyung nodded, moving to stand up as Jimin did. He stayed close to Jimin as he climbed off the boat and onto the dock. Jin got out of the boat last, following behind them as they made their way towards the shore. Hobi relaxed his grip after a moment more of hugging Henley, looking to see Jungkook holding what looked like a dead man in his arms. Hobi opened his mouth and was about to ask who that was when another spoke up first.

"Who did you kill?"

Henley turned to look at the newcomer walking beside Jimin as he asked the question. He walked down along the dock and across the shore towards her as if he were a fashion model on a runway. His eyes held a twinkle that shimmered and disappeared as fast as a camera's flash while his lips quirked into a small outline of a smirk.

"Who are you?"

"I asked a question first, Henny. It is only polite if you answer mine before I answer yours."

Henley chose to ignore the fashionable newcomer as she turned her gaze to look at Jimin who was busy elbowing the man in the side.

"You do that a lot, don't you?" asked the newcomer. "Elbow me with your pointy elbows."

Jimin rolled his eyes as he looked at Henley then at the limp man in Jungkook's arms as Jungkook stood beside her.

"This is Taehyung," said Jimin. "He helped save Jin from dying while being seduced by a siren. He's part human and part siren."

"And you trust him?" she asked.

Jimin nodded his head, and Henley - though she hadn't known Jimin long - trusted him. Henley's eyes flicked to look at Hobi who had walked over to Jungkook while she talked to Jimin and was gently touching the limp man's wrist with his fingers, looking for a pulse.

"Is this man really dead?" Hobi asked.

"No," said Jungkook. "He's a vampire we found while you were gone."

Taehyung gave a short bark of laughter then which blossomed into a full blown laugh. Everyone turned to look at Taehyung as he bent over laughing as if what Jungkook just said was the funniest thing known to man.

"What are you laughing about?" asked Jin as he stood at the foot of the dock, taking all this new chaos in.

"I just...don't you think it's funny that there are two newcomers to your group. A supposed murderer from the land and from the sea? Well, not saying I am but..."

Jimin shook his head. He felt like Taehyung was a different breed of crazy. He would definitely take some getting used to.

"So if he's a vampire, why is he passed out?" asked Jimin.

"He's afraid of blood. We tried to give him some to help nourish him since he's been neglected for so long, but he passed out at the sight of the blood," explained Henley.

"He should come around soon though," said Jungkook.

"Oh brother!" exclaimed Taehyung as a few chuckles still bubbled from him. "Put the man down. I'll wake him up."

Henley looked at Taehyung warily for a moment before nodding. Jungkook moved to crouch down, gently placing Yoongi on the ground.

"What's his name?" asked Taehyung as he walked over, moving to settle on his knees beside Yoongi.

"Yoongi," said Jungkook as he watched Taehyung grab one of Yoongi's hands in his.

Jimin and Jin moved to stand beside Henley, Hobi and Jungkook as Taehyung stayed kneeling on the shore. The five of them created a sort of half circle around the other two.

"I know you're sleeping now," said Taehyung out loud as he held on to Yoongi's hand. "But you're going to wake up when I count to three. One...two...three!"

Not even a second after Taehyung had said 'three', Yoongi's eyelids flew open and he sat up. Taehyung dropped his hand from off Yoongi's; a proud grin on his face.

"Hold the applause," said Taehyung with a chuckle as he moved to stand back to his feet, making sure that once again the blanket was wrapped tightly about his shoulders.

"How did you do that?" asked Jimin as he looked over at Taehyung.

"It's a gift," he said with a grin. "An effect of being part siren I guess."

"Part siren?" asked Yoongi as he looked at Taehyung before looking about at the rest of the people staring at him. His gaze focused in on Henley since he knew her. "What's going on? Where am I?"

"Did you also give him amnesia too?" muttered Jin under his breath.

"Yoongi, you're okay. These are people you can trust. They are part of your new family," said Henley as she moved to settle down beside him as he sat up.

Yoongi's eyes wandered over every face before landing back on Henley.

"You're looking a bit better than before," continued Henley when Yoongi looked at her again. "That blood helped."

"You force fed me that blood when I was passed out?" asked Yoongi.

"Well yes. It was for your own good," piped up Jungkook.

"I'm not mad. I'm just..." Yoongi let the rest of what he was going to say die away as he looked about him again.

Henley looked about her as well at all the men assembled. Just a day or two ago, she hadn't imagined any sort of life for herself outside Hobi and her every day routine of dodging her parents and Lianna's attempts to set her up. Now she couldn't picture herself without them as crazy as that sounded.

However, nothing could be crazier than what was about to happen next.