The Blood Crown

Chapter Three

Jimin didn't move from his spot. His cheek was plastered against the stiff stone of the bar top and his body was limp. The music blasted through the club, but all he could taste was the blood he had stolen that night. He had locked himself away so he wouldn't harm anyone, yet a woman found him. Like the monster he was, he attacked her. His lips twitched in anger as he remembered her pleading screams. She screamed for safety and mercy, but he gave her none. His incisors scrapped against his lip drawing blood as his imagined the warm liquid caressing his tongue, flooding his mouth. He could feel her soft skin on his lips as her back pushed into his chest with each breath she took. Her blood tasted so sweet. It slid through his mouth like the finest of drinks, and soothed his stomach like the heartiest of meals. He felt better than he ever had, just a taste of her blood was better than anything he ever dreamed of. He wiped his mouth with a growl and slammed his palm on the bartop. "Dammit!" His yell drew the looks from few, the cracked bartop drew the attention of the barkeep.

  "Jimin, please, keep my property safe until I get off. I can't get fired." Taemin leaned towards his friend with a scowl. Jimin's lips flickered into a scowl as he glared at his friend accusingly. Just three weeks ago Jimin had his last shift as Taemin's coworker. He had lost his only connection to a blood supply and now he was waiting for his friend to get off work after he attacked a girl. Taemin understood Jimin's guilt from attacking a girl, he understood why his friend was flopping on the bar top in front of him. But Jimin knew that his friend would never understand the feeling of drinking her blood. She was his elixir. Somehow he knew that if he partook in her blood he would never grow weary. He knew that his body would crave nothing more.

  It proved he was just a monster.

  "I know." Jimin rubbed his face wearily. "You can't be like me, I get it." He spat, resting his cheek on the bartop again. They were turned vampires, they couldn't survive without blood. If they went long enough they would turn into mindless monsters. Like he almost did. Like he should have. The only way they could get blood was by working in places like he used to. Being fired he lost all access. He locked himself away after he felt the mindlessness set in. Now that his mind was clear again, he missed the near zombie state he had been in. He didn't have to deal with the guilt. The guilt of attacking a woman, and now, the guilt for craving her innocent body. He wanted her. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Everytime he closed his eyes he felt her against him, tasted her blood in his mouth. It was torture.

  "You shouldn't be here, Jimin." Taemin shook his head as he shook the metal canister. It felt foreboding seeing his younger friend in front of him. It was as if he were seeing a walking curse. A curse that could only spell evil.

  "I know, you're working." Jimin grumbled, staring at the glass as his friend poured some olive juice into the glass, then the martini.

  "No, I mean you shouldn't be here. In mind or body." Taemin speared some olives before pushed the drink towards his weary friend. He looked around the room before leaning in. "You were gone too far, Jimin. No matter how much blood you drank, you shouldn't be you anymore." If he was there like he was, it just, it wasn't possible.

  "I'm just lucky Tae." Jimin lifted the glass and downed in instantly, not enjoying a single sip of the alcohol. He didn't believe a word of it himself. He ignored the knowing look his friend gave him and stared at the empty glass, mindlessly wishing he could summon more. He couldn't ignore his friends words, they echoed through his mind. He was supposed to be a zombie, a mindless thing. But he wasn't. Somehow, he wasn't. He would have to pay a toll.

  "Jimin, I didn't think I'd see you around here again." An attractive woman sidled up beside him, flashing her incisors at him. "Looking for some fun?" Her fingers splayed across his thigh, kneeding into the skin. His body jerked instantly, like a lantern hanging by a thread she controlled him. Every jerk in his body was caused by her pulling at him, every burst of fire in his soul was her lighting him up.

  "No, I'm not." His body shivered from arousal as he took her hand in his, moving her away from him. He felt disgust when he looked at her but he also didn't. She was why he lost his job, he thought if he listened to the bosses wife he could get more blood, more life. But instead he was left with the taint of an adultering soul, and the chance to become a monster.

  "So you found another woman, huh? Someone else to support you?" She scowled at him as her nails curled in on her fist, making a dent in her pale flesh. "Guess, I was right to get you fired." Her jealousy etched its ways into her eyes, cutting her amber irises into cold stones.

  "I'm not your playtoy." Jimin slid his feet to the ground, finding strength in the solid ground under his feet. He wished he could leave her grasp, but temptation was a fickle thing. It only came from poison. She was a monster that took a hold of his innocence. She tore up every lesson he learned from those he respected and made him feel like a cockroach. But he still missed her cold smiles and knowing looks. He missed every night they laid together, bathed in blood and sweat.

  "Not anymore." His former bosses wife flashed her teeth at him again, her stretched lips twitching from her aggressive smile. "I'm surprised you didn't turn yourself into a monster these past few weeks. I thought I would find you dead one day."

  "I thought I would too." Jimin spoke softly, feeling the clench in his stomach as he pictured his limp body on the pavement, a stake through his chest with blood slipping onto the dirty pavement. "But I am not. So please, leave me alone."

  "You're on my turf, baby." Her voice lowered into a revolting purr. Her hands rested on his shoulders, a futile attempt to claim possession, dominance. "You wouldn't come back if you didn't want me." He felt disgust, but he also felt the comfort of familiarity. The conflict of temptation and truth pulled at his soul. He wondered when he started feeling it again. The steady thrum of emotions.

  "I don't want you." Jimin said with a growl his eyes sparked, and she stared at him with an desperate quiver to her lips. He didn't feel it, but everyone else did. The vampires around him shuddered, they all listened, he wasn't speaking to them, he was speaking to her. But they felt it, he didn't want them. "Leave me alone." He grabbed her wrists and pushed her away. She stumbled back with a distant whine. The vampires around him responded, making space.

  "Okay." His former lover looked at the ground, not meeting his eyes. "Goodbye." Her voice echoed through his ears, he watched her leave him behind her. Jimin fell onto his seat, hardly believing it. It couldn't have been that easy, it shouldn't have been. He had been tortured since he got that job, he had been degraded and used. His ideals had been warped, he got challenged by a seductress and he failed to be strong. He fell to her. "I can't believe it. That's crazy." He chuckled and looked at Taemin. "Tae!"

  Taemin jolted, looking at Jimin coldly. "What?"

  "What?" Jimin grumbled and scrunched his nose playing with his empty glass. His eyes slid back up to his friend who was completely conflicted, his pale hands shacking as they maneuvered around the bar.

  "You're different Jimin." Taemin avoided his friends gaze. He focused on the mechanics of his drink. Their thoughts were aligned, they both believed that maybe Jimin was cursed. Maybe whatever had happened between that girl and him had changed him forever, and not for the better.