Sacrifices || Jackson Wang \ Han Sanghyuk au

• Chapter 6 •

The year 1781 was the year that Hoseok decided to live back in Seoul, taking refuge at the cabin Leo and I stayed at during the time. A little less than a year after, the summer of 1782, was the summer that I fell head over heals in love with a vampyre boy that Hoseok kept around, Jackson.

It was simple. Leo convinced Hoseok that his lifestyle was unruly and desensitized, and eventually he repented, promising he'd change and attempt to place his best foot forward. He'd left everything and everyone he roamed with, leaving the murdering nomad life for the birds, but along the way he met the boy that rattled my heart.

Jackson, on the other hand, was everything Hoseok wanted to forget. He thrived off of the thrill of ripping the limbs off of innocent humans, watching the blood trickle out of them and hearing their pulse slow to a stop. He was exactly like Hoseok's past that, at that point, he prayed to never be like again.

Jackson respected his friend's decision in becoming a better vampyre, though it never stopped him from visiting every night soaked in human blood. "Could you wash this, Yue? I wouldn't want Hoseok to smell it or anything." And I would, all too willingly take his shirt from him, keeping my eyes off of his intoxicating chest.

Something in the vampyre body changes when you kill humans for pleasure, the average silver eyes contorting to a deep red that warned everyone of their practices. While my brother's eyes had slowly began to fade back to silver after months of detox, Jackson's only thrived. And for some odd reason, it fluttered my heart.

He knew what he did to me, he knew exactly how my heart raced when he looked at me. He could hear it. "Do I make you nervous?" His breath would hit my ear as he passed me, too low for my brothers to hear. My cheeks would blush a deep crimson color before he'd chuckle, placing a flirtatious kiss to my forehead that made my knees weak.

I never fully understood Jackson's feelings towards me until one night when everyone was fast asleep, he took me to walk around the town. Every time Jackson was in the presence of either of my brothers he treated me like a baby, or as if I didn't exist. It was different when we were alone. His hand was warm, his slim fingers intwined with mine.

I felt alive when I was around him, not tied down like Leo made me feel. It was silent on our walk before he slowed to a stop, his hand squeezing mine tightly. "Do you like me?" He questioned.

It was instinct not by will that I immediately denied it. "No!" I hid my face, hanging my head to avoid the heat of his red eyes that I would have met anyway, his fingers tilting my chin up.

"Don't do that." His fingers prodded at my bottom lip. "I can feel your heart speed up." His hand placed over my heart. He was right, it was beating out of my chest. "I know that I excite you." Jackson's forehead rested on mine, his eyes burning into mine. "You like me." His confidence was one of the reason's he intrigued me so much, he never doubted himself. "And I like you too."

It was cliché, but as soon as his lips connected to mine, I swore that I felt sparks ignite in the pit of my stomach. It was different after that night, he no longer ignored me around Leo or Hoseok, his arm always wrapped tightly around my waist or fingers running through my soft brown hair.

We grew closer than I had ever gotten to another person besides my brothers. It was the best months of my life, immortal or human. He whispered promises of a future in my ear at night, the idea of starting a clan together being fed to me on a silver platter, and I believed every word.

Almost a whole year had passed, flying by with the warm feeling of Jackson sleeping next to me every night. But then everything turned for the worst so quickly and unexpectedly that even to this day I still didn't quite understand it all. He'd leave with Hoseok in the mornings, bringing me small presents in the evening, attempting to distract me from the red splotches forming in my brother's eyes once again.

I noticed them one night, my jaw dropping and tears leaking from my eyes. "You've done so well." My thumb ran underneath his eye as he wouldn't look at me, nor Leo, who just stood in the doorway watching.

It took me less than a second to pin down why Hoseok had relapsed, though I never really wanted to believe it. "What have you done?" I whispered to Jackson after I found him sitting in my room a few moments later.

His puppy dog eyes glinted up at me, but I knew what he had allowed my brother to do, there was no innocence in them. "What do you mean, baby?" His voice was so soft and cradled so much compassion nobody would have suspected him to have been ripping throats out all night. He acted like he didn't know that Hoseok was back at it again.

"You know what you did." Tears were streaming so quickly now I had to wipe them away to see Jackson's expression change sullenly.

I told him to leave or to detox, after a fight boiling over for a good hour. No matter how much I cared for him, he wasn't good for Hoseok anymore as a reckless vampyre. "Do you know what you are doing to me? Do you know what you are making me do?" And that's when I realized that Jackson did indeed love me, but the temptation of human sacrifice was too imbedded into his rutiene for him to live without.

I woke up the next morning with a note folded next to me on Jackson's side of the bed. The covers remained untouched. He'd left, alongside Hoseok that decided a life of revival and renewal was far from what he actually desired. I hated Jackson for making me love him. I hated him for loving me and I hated him for choosing a vicious lifestyle over the future we had so carefully planned out. I hated him for taking my brother away again and twisting him and allowing him to become a monster again. With every resentment in my heart, it still cracked and shattered with each passing day without him.

I longed for an apology. I waited decades for him to return, but he never did, even when Hoseok stopped by on the off chance, he was never with him. He didn't contact me, it was like he never existed except he did, the memory of him still so raw in my head. And now, he was at my house, more than two hundred years later, each hidden feeling making their way back to my heart.

Leo tugged me away from Jackson as he slowly pulled himself up, swaying lightly , trying to regain balance. "It's not worth your time, Yue." Leo whispered into my ear as he pulled me back over to my other brother.

"I'm sorry. I know this was a bad idea, but he'll help your little problem." Hoseok was right, I knew what Jackson was capable of teaching Hyuk, but even with that thought, I still hated the idea of him being here. Being anywhere near me like he hadn't single handedly ripped my heart out.

"What little problem?" Hyuk had made his way to the front door, listening and watching the altercation for however long. We all turned to look at him, Hoseok laughing lightly.

"You." He grinned slightly, Hyuk's fave only grew more confused. I wasn't anymore in the mood to hear my brother tease and prod at Hyuk than he was.

I groaned lightly. "This is my brother, Hoseok. He's here to help train you." Hyuk nodded lightly, his eyes now focusing on Jackson.

"And him?" Jackson's eyes widened before his face contorted into his signature smirk. He breezed by me, the simple smell of him making me sick. He clasped hands with Hyuk, bring him into a half hug and patting his back.

"Jackson Wang."