Promise

32: Blood On My Hands

"Can someone else shuffle?" San stated monotonously, drawing the attention now onto himself rather than it lingering on his boyfriend.

"I'm sorry?" Sangwook seemed offended by the comment, features reflecting that along with disgust. "You did not just—"

"But I did." San leaned forward on the table, smirking. His elbows rested on the surface, hands folding for his head to rest on. "It was a simple request. You know, to keep the integrity of the game. Usually the dealer isn't apart of the game."

Sangwook scoffed, mouth hung slightly agape.

"You'd better watch yourself bloodsucker." Sangwook's features lost all expression when he said that, which made the comment come off even more as a threat.

San chuckled, locking eyes with the hunter. "You don't scare me."

"Alright folks, enough of this chitchat, let's get on with what we're here to do." The older man to Wooyoung's right spoke up, looking across all of the others, obviously annoyed at this delay. "Some of us have places to be after this."

"Hand me the cards Wook." The other human reached out to the hunter, currently coming off as the most levelheaded in the room. But he also seemed the most bored. "He wants a dealer, then I won't play."

Hearing that shortened name only made Wooyoung's throat tighten up even more. It just proved that that human was indeed working with Sangwook, as "Wook" was what he went by to anyone involved in his gang. For some reason, that man thought it kept his identity concealed or whatever.

Wooyoung was snapped from his thoughts when he felt a tap against his foot. He was fearful for a moment, before he felt it again. The sensation came from his left, which prompted him to look over at San for just a second. The vampire, while expression remained unchanging, was able to give the smallest of signals to show that he was still here for Wooyoung. It was also a reminder to focus on the task at hand.

Taking a deep breath, Wooyoung swallowed heavily, then locked away all other thoughts in his head. He couldn't dwell on anything right now, he couldn't let the past resurface, all he had to focus on was the here and now. Which happened to include one of the reasons he had remained so broken and empty.

No! I will not let him get the best of me.

Taking in another heavy breath, Wooyoung watched as the human shuffled the cards. Nothing appeared off, no sly tricks, at least right now. One by one, cards were dealt out to each of the players, the human running his mouth about nonsense. Everyone knew the rules, yet this guy felt it was necessary to fill the void with his voice.

Let the game begin.

This estate consisted of what seemed like three separate buildings, but in reality it formed a half-rectangle, where either of the side buildings connected through the back-half of the middle. The connecting paths were minimal between the buildings, that wasn't to say there weren't any, they just needed to know the right places to look. The semicircle in the middle of the buildings was where the cars of all the guests were parked, along with a big, elegant fountain. In fact the whole thing looked elegant. Too bad it was built on bad intentions and illegitimate money.

San and Wooyoung's mission took place in the left-most building when looking at the estate from the outside. It held many different rooms, which led the crew to believe that's where most of the private games were held. In the house plans they found that a lot of money went to excessive soundproofing in the walls, and just as much went into security cameras. They didn't worry about it though.

The building in the middle would be where Seonghwa and Yeosang would enter later in the night once the coast is clear. It appeared to just be for show, but in reality, it held the most secrets. On the surface it seemed like a normal house, but it really was an entire office space, if it could even be called that. There was bound to be information in many secret crevasses, but guards would lurk the grounds as well, which is why they needed to wait.