Aftertaste | J.JK

As Captives

"Do you think they'll be okay?"

"They'll be fine," Jungkook assures me for the fifth time, his brows drawn in concentration as he shifts his eyes out the window. He'd been doing that for the past hour, ever since Hoseok's warning.

"What are you doing?" I ask, rising from the couch and throwing my arms around his neck. His hair is soft and smells of lavender as I rest my chin on the top, following the path of his focused gaze out the frost-bitten window.

"Making sure you remain safe." He replies, casually raising his hand to brush the fingers through my dark locks. "You didn't forget to take your medicine, did you?"

I nod at the empty bottles that Yoongi had set out for me to drink. Ever since I'd arrived here, the first thing he'd done was to take a good look at me and then prescribe a bunch of medicine that he claimed would keep me alive.

According to him, a single cold could kill me off with what weak immune system I possessed.

"I have to remember, Jungkook. He gets so cranky if he sees those bottles full before noon."

A ghost of a smile dances on his lips as he leans back into the couch, finally seeming to relax a bit from the job he'd assigned himself. "That's Yoongi hyung for you. He gets cranky anything."

My lips press together. "Jungkook."

"Yeah?"

"Remember the time you asked me if I wanted you to turn me vampire?" I ask, and curiosity replaces the watchfulness in his eyes as he finally turns to look at me.

".... Yeah?"

"What'd happen if you did?"

His brows furrow as he frowns, a mix of thoughtfulness and reluctance appearing on his features. And when he parts his lips to answer, each of his words are careful, measured.

"Elle. Back then, when I asked you if you did want it..." His voice trails off, and he looks at me with an uncertainty in his eyes. My own struggle to stay pinned to his— somehow, the urge to avoid them grows stronger by the minute.

Then he shakes his head.

"It's a painful process, Elle. For a total of twenty four hours, you'll be put through pain worse than death. After a day and you survive, then you'll emerge as a vampire."

Vampire.

Beautiful, pale, powerful.

"And would I have a gift?"

He nods, motioning towards himself. "Since I would be your maker, yes. You receive the ability to possess a gift if the vampire who makes you is gifted themselves."

But then Jungkook's features twist, and he continues to shake his head in denial.

"It's something that I shouldn't ever put you through, Elle. And the life after that— the blood thirst that you'd feel every single day—"

He purses his lips, indicating the end of this discussion. Even though some part of me wants to continue asking questions, I fall into silence with the worry that I'd make him angry and more stressed than he already was.

Everything seems normal and peaceful when suddenly Jungkook's eyes widen, and within a split second he has my body to his chest.

"Jungkook?"

He makes a silencing motion with his right hand, the other firmly pressed against my shoulder when a stark vibration crosses the air.