A Taste Of Midnight

80

The dim glow of moonlight bathed the sprawling balcony of Taehyung's estate in an ethereal silver sheen. He stood at its edge, his dark silhouette stark against the sky. The night air carried the faint scent of rain, and the distant hum of the city below served as a muted backdrop to his turbulent thoughts.

A soft flutter of wings broke the silence, followed by the faint rustle of feathers. Tan, his faithful crow, landed gracefully on the stone balustrade, its sleek black body glistening in the moonlight. The bird's sharp, intelligent eyes locked onto Taehyung as it cawed softly, a sound that seemed to echo with foreboding.

Taehyung turned slowly, his expression calm but his jaw clenched in suppressed tension. "You're late," he murmured, his voice low and even, though his fingers twitched at his side. He extended a hand, and Tan hopped onto his forearm with a grace that betrayed its supernatural intelligence.

"Speak," Taehyung commanded, his tone clipped.

Tan shifted, tilting its head before opening its beak to emit a series of faint, unintelligible whispers. To anyone else, the sounds would have been incomprehensible, but to Taehyung, they painted a vivid, searing picture.

Seokjin's mansion. The firelit drawing room. The quiet intimacy of the two figures inside. Seokjin's arms wrapped around Jungkook, their closeness undeniable. And the sharpest blow: the unmistakable gleam of Jungkook's crimson eyes-new, vibrant, and unmistakably vampire.

Taehyung's breath hitched, his entire body going rigid as the truth settled over him like a suffocating shroud. His grip on Tan tightened imperceptibly, though the bird remained still, its gaze unblinking.

"He turned him," Taehyung whispered, his voice barely audible. The words felt foreign on his tongue, like they didn't belong in the reality he'd constructed in his mind. He repeated them, louder this time, as if saying them would make them less real. "He turned him."

Tan shifted slightly, its claws digging lightly into his sleeve, as if in acknowledgment of the gravity of its report.

Disbelief, jealousy, and anger surged through Taehyung all at once, a volatile mix that left him trembling with the effort to maintain control. His free hand clenched into a fist at his side, the veins in his wrist standing out starkly against his pale skin.

"How dare he?" Taehyung hissed, his voice venomous. His gaze snapped to Tan, his eyes flashing a dangerous crimson. "After everything-after all his talk of protecting Jungkook's humanity, of sparing him from this curse-he turns him?"

Tan cawed softly, shifting its weight as though urging caution. But Taehyung was beyond reason.

The memories flooded back unbidden: Seokjin's quiet resolve as he once vowed never to turn another, the anguish in his eyes whenever the topic of eternity arose. Seokjin's adamant refusal to consider giving Jungkook the dark gift, citing love as his reason for keeping him human. All of it, now shattered in an instant.

"Was it desperation?" Taehyung wondered aloud, his voice quieter but no less venomous. "Did he panic, unable to bear the thought of losing Jungkook? Or did he finally let go of those righteous ideals he clings to so tightly?"

His mind spun with possibilities, each more bitter than the last. The jealousy gnawed at him, sharp and unrelenting. Jungkook, once human, had been Seokjin's most precious tether to mortality-a reminder of the life he claimed to treasure. And now, he had brought him fully into their world, a world Taehyung had once believed only he shared with Seokjin.

Taehyung's gaze darkened further, his crimson eyes glowing ominously. He turned his attention back to Tan, who remained perched on his arm, silent and watchful.