The Reflection Of True Love

The Bond

When the sun had risen, Jungkook hadn't long been back from hunting. He hadn't altered his behaviour when out at night, he preferred to kill quickly but savour how it felt as someone's blood coated his tongue and made him feel alive. He'd never known any other existence, one of few born this way, it was the way it'd always been. His parents taught him to kill as soon as he could walk and he'd learnt pretty soon that he enjoyed sinking his fangs into an unsuspecting human. His mother was a witch turned vampire, able to successfully carry four children but that was all. In such ancient times no one could explain it and she outlived all the witches she knew aside from the royals and once the two worlds divided she remained on the side of the vampires and never looked back. The four children aged three times as fast as human children but stopped at young adulthood so Jungkook guessed that he was about 25 but really no-one had any idea and after a few centuries, no-one cared.

The vampire felt a different sense of freedom as he drained the woman of blood last night. He'd never really cared for the people he killed, their pleas to live became a tedious reality so he trained himself to attack before they had the chance to beg. Immobilising them and piercing their throat with razor sharp fangs was the part that he'd mastered in the speed of light and that enabled him to take his time to feed. Drinking the blood of someone who was crying and struggling usually put him in a bad mood so it was sensible to ensure it was a speedy kill and then he could feed in peace. He'd known a few vampires over the decades that had a sense of morality but he couldn't relate. The fact was that he was a predator and humans were prey, he didn't ever see a cheetah feeling regret for killing a Wildebeest.

His mind was entirely consumed with the revelations that Yumi had discovered. The bottom line was that he'd been duped by a bitter witch and everything in the years that followed were unnecessary, which was tough to accept. The words spoken by his soulmate hadn't ever left him and provided the source for mental torture over the years. They'd been so much in love, so happy for so long and yet with one hallucinogenic spell, it was obliterated along with his hope of ever being loved again. Now that he knew what happened, there was hope once more that perhaps if he could reintegrate himself and meet others, that just maybe, he could find love again but he felt so guarded that he wasn't sure his heart would allow it. If he could lose the man he thought was his true love, what did that mean for the future, even without his mask? He also had someone that had arrived unannounced into his life that had awakened something deep within... was it possible to hope that Tae and could be more than just the father of the little girl that had brought sunshine into his world?

Jungkook felt zero desire to get in touch with the family that shunned him and he had no urges to look for anyone that abandoned him at the time. It crossed his mind very briefly that there was a chance he could track down his lost love but he'd closed that chapter a long time ago, even though the memories still hurt and there was no guarantee that he was free of the spell so it all seemed pointless. He didn't want to revisit the past or try and make up for the time lost, he had forever in front of him so he would wallow in self pity for a while and get on with life as it was now because what else could he do?

The old vampire wasn't expecting Yumi and her father quite so early but he was at least thankful that they'd entered the garden from the rear because it gave him some more time. He needed time to second guess his clothing choice of all things because for the last two hundred years or so the cloak covered everything. When he went to greet the duo at the back of the house, he felt naked... no cloak and no mask. Just as he was getting used to socialising with the little girl, he had to adjust to seeing her father but all while sheltered behind the mask and cloak so there were barriers. Today, he was laid bare, in all his awkward glory and it was terrifying but he didn't want to lose the only people to have made the effort with him in centuries.