Sacrifices || Jackson Wang \ Han Sanghyuk au

• Chapter 16 •

Hoseok.

I had watched the three others run off, leaving me behind after I'd witnessed Jackson heal our food right before my eyes. It made me as proud as watching Hyuk duplicate did. "You guys go on, I'll be home soon."

I walked the alley by the bar, the one that little Yue had told me had started the situation that she was so unfortunately entwined in. My mind found itself wondering back to my best friend, my brother, and the event that happened minutes prior.

It hadn't ever mattered to me who anyone else was, what morals they held, who they loved. I wanted to see Jackson happy, whether that be with how I lived, or how Yue lived. Love was a beautiful thing and I wasn't one to be anything but supportive of him, even if it meant for him to eventually leave behind our years alongside of the thrill of pursuit. It was a matter of weeks before they were connected by the hip once more.

The day had held so much promise, that I only wanted to celebrate a little longer than the other three had desired. A little Hoseok party per se. And it wasn't as if this was the first time, or the second, I often wondered off after they all had fallen asleep, preying on the night.

I loved the city so much, before I was needed at the house, Jackson and I stuck to feeding and slaughtering only in Seoul. It held the most challenges, the freshest food.

Maybe ten minutes had past until I heard the sounds of feet padding against the dark alley's damp ground. They grew closer, the steps becoming louder in my ear until I watched the two pass me, smiling and laughing, their hands linked together. How cute.

My hands pushed the man to the ground, and as his body hit the pavement he went unconscious. His woman, with deep red hair and bright blue eyes shrieked, making me sigh as I placed my hand across her mouth, muffling her screams. "Hey, hey. Now don't scream." She didn't stop. "So the boy I've been training, right, well today he became a man, and I just want a little celebration. Is that alright?" Her teeth nipped at my palm, her voice not tiring.

Again, I sighed. I hated the panicking type. My fangs buried into her neck, drinking the bitter substance, letting it coat my throat until she went white, and there was nothing left to drink. "Ah." I breathed, wiping her blood away that started dripping from my lips. With a tug, each fragile arm of her's was ripped off, being tossed to the ground. My hands gripped her neck, ripping it to the side and tossing it along side her arms. Her body crumpled to the ground.

Next, the man still laid, breathing in through his nose in his unplanned sleep. If I hadn't drank all of that woman's being, I would have fed again, but instead, my foot placed roughly down on his back, my hands gripping his neck, decapitating him like his girlfriend.

This was why my eyes glowed a deep red, from the human blood I shed unnecessarily. It showed a warning to the other vampyres that I was a threat, and even though I wasn't to them, humans hardly ever walked by me without being ripped apart. It's just what I did. An addiction.

What to do with the bodies, that was always the question, and on a night like this, so barren and quiet, a fire would be the best. Dragging a dumpster closer, I tossed the red head's decapitated body, along side her limbs into the garbage.

I started lifting the man, but something stopped me. Something so small, something so insignificant. "Daddy?"

I was frozen. My hands could only drop the man as I turned, seeing a little girl, only around the age of five with tears brimming her mocha eyes. Her dark hair hung just above her fragile shoulders and her body was draped in a pink dress. "Daddy!" She screamed, running towards him, kneeling before his headless body. "Daddy!"

My feet slid back slightly as I watched her cry into her father's unmoving chest, and for some reason I was still speechless, my eyes widened. She looked at me, her bottom lip quivering so harshly that I could hear it shake. "Where is my mommy?" She was barely understandable, her high voice mixed with her tears got to me. Somehow, it made me feel bad.

"I-I, I don't know." I whispered, my voice shaking.

She cried harder, her tiny hands gripping the dead body so tightly her knuckles went white.

Maybe, if I was rational, I would have killed her too, ripping her baby face from her body but I didn't. What I did was beyond me, as if I wasn't controlling my thoughts or my mind. Was this what humanity felt of?

My hands grabbed her up in my arms, holding her tightly. She flung herself around, screaming harder as she was in my arms, her fists hitting my chest, tears soaking into my shirt. "What is your name?" I asked, and when she didn't answer, I lifted her chin with my finger, and the terror in her eyes as she saw the color of my irises was enough to have her speak.

Her name was Haru. And as my thumb brushed her forehead, my own tears began to spill over. "Haru, I need you to forget what you saw." Her eyes dilated, her head nodding lightly. But I wasn't done. "Forget that they were ever your parents. From now on," I paused, trying to rethink what I was about to say. But I couldn't. "From now on, I'm your dad."

And it happened like that. She fell from my arms and smiled wide as if she hadn't just seen her father decapitated and lying on the pavement before her. Her small fingers grip the bottom of my shirt, tugging it down. "Are you alright, daddy? You look sad."

I didn't know what to do, her soft brown eyes looked so pure and so innocent. How could I have done this to this girl? For all I know, that could have been Yue years before.

"I'm okay, honey. I have to do something, okay? It might hurt, but I promise it will be okay." She just nodded as I sat down on the damp pavement, steering her gaze from the corpse upon the ground. I sat her on my lap, her hand wrapped in mine.

My teeth bore into her arm, not daring to drink, but only to leave the venom to soak into her blood stream. She cringed, trying to pull away, but I held her tighter, nipping into my own wrist and having her drink. For some reason, maybe a young ignorance, she drank without refusal.

And it was sunrise before she began screaming, thrashing in my hands in pain. And in that time, I learned more about that girl than I'd ever think I would care about.

Her favorite color was yellow, but not the color of the sun, nor the kind you got from a crayon, but the soft pastel yellow of her favorite dress. She wanted a dog, a puppy, because she told me she wanted to sleep with it at night. Haru hated the dark, and the idea of being alone terrified her. "But I'm glad I have you, Appa."

I watched as she began spitting blood from her mouth, teeth rattling on the ground, her new born fangs pushing to the surface. It pained me to watch, but as it slowed down, and she asked what was wrong with her, she lit up as I told her stories of our kind. Of what we could do.

"You'll love Auntie Yue, Haru. Uncle Jackson too, but your Uncle Leo is on vacation and he may not be back for awhile." The girl walked beside me, our feet pushing the gravel of Yue's driveway.

"Ah, Hoseok! Where have you-" Yue had barged through the screen door, her eyes growing wide, switching between the little girl and I. And I knew the first thing she saw is what caused her to gasp, how the girl's eyes were no longer a brown, but a piercing silver.

I fucked up.