The Reflection Of True Love

The Fence

The sun was setting, an orange glow kissed the landscape of the farm where Taehyung and his daughter, Yumi lived. There were times like this one when Taehyung wished that his daughter had been allowed to grow beyond her ten years but she'd been frozen in time thanks to the rampaging gang of vampires that entered their village over two hundred years ago. Taehyung didn't know what a typical ten year old would do because so much time had passed and to a certain extent, Yumi had matured a lot over the centuries but on a day like today when he was searching the farm for her again, he had to put it down to her mischievous, inquisitive childlike ways.

They'd seen many changes in the world since the night their village was attacked. It was a pointless act, designed to increase the vampire population at that time because a great war between vampires and witches had broken out. The original family at the head of the whole vampire population hadn't factored in how many humans would die as a result of the attacks so numbers didn't increase as much as they'd intended. The war saw many casualties on both sides and was the greatest of many periods of unrest since time began.

Taehyung was a blacksmith back then, living in a small village with his son, daughter and wife. He worked hard and to the people in the village, he had a wonderful happy life. It wasn't completely untrue, he loved his children and he loved his wife but his relationship was affected by a dark secret that he stored away in the depths of his soul. No one in his world accepted homosexuality or at least, no one spoke about it openly. Men would meet secretly in dark alleys or in a disused barn on the outskirts of the village. Everyone involved was sworn to secrecy because they knew that death was the sentence if they were caught. Taehyung's wife knew, she loved him and was grateful for the life they had, with two beautiful children who were her life.

The night that the village was attacked by the vampires, Taehyung was immobilised first so he couldn't fight back and protect his family so when he awoke he couldn't do anything for his son and wife who hadn't survived. Yumi was strong and awoke not long after her father, both trapped in their bodies as they were at the moment they'd been bitten. The village had been desecrated so the remaining villagers, now vampires, moved away, starting afresh somewhere they would be left alone and could live in peace because none of them wanted to fight in any war.

Taehyung loved their home now, becoming a farmer gave him a focus. It was a quaint farmhouse with white exterior tucked away amongst the trees on acres of farmland. They had horses, cows, chickens and a small lake that was home to a family of ducks, as well as other animals. There were deer and various wildlife in the forest that surrounded the back of the house and the newest addition to the farm was a load of bunnies, which Taehyung hadn't wanted. Yumi loved animals, she always had and told her father often how much she loved their home. They bred small mammals to feed from because they didn't like feeding from humans, it seemed to cause more trouble than it was worth when one died for a start. If a human was turned into a vampire instead of dying, they had to take responsibility for it and that also was more hassle than it was worth so they lived a different way.

Life was pretty idyllic. The father and daughter kept to themselves unless they travelled into the nearest town to trade at the local market or someone stopped by their home. Since the war ended between the witches and vampires, their worlds lived in relative peace but there was always a rumbling that something could happen at any given time. Witches were a menace. It was said that they hated that vampires ruled the world and when they revolted centuries ago, it turned their world upside down. It was ridiculous when magic was the force that had so much impact on the land. Taehyung never understood what caused the war and unrest or what the final straw had been, he'd just heard that witches caused the end of peace and they'd entered a period of battles and ugliness, with the only agreement being that magic would remain provided that vampires left witches alone. He hadn't had to fight in any battles. He was too valuable with his blacksmith skills and the fact he was a lone parent meant he'd been kept out of it. The unrest had been happening long before Taehyung entered life as a vampire and it was strange for him to learn that so much had been happening that his human life was completely oblivious to.