Running in My Veins: Jicheol SVT AU ✓

Chapter 1

"You really think they're going to listen to a word I say?" Seungcheol questions, "They'll shoot me down before I even finish."

"There is no harm in trying," Jeonghan says. Seungcheol nods and brushes his hands over his coat. He stands in front of a mirror and stares at himself. His facial expression is stoic and devoid of emotion. His shoulders are tense and his posture is that expected of him. "Hello, Prince Stiff," Jeonghan states with a shake of his head, hating when Seungcheol does this. The prince's parents requested that he stop being so emotional when he was young. A proper leader doesn't act on their feelings, but rather what is best for the people as a whole. For that reason, Seungcheol has done his best to shove his emotions deep down and be the cold vampire prince he needs to be. More often than not, Seungcheol is like this. The only time he isn't is amongst his friends and that was hard for Jeonghan and the others to achieve. It was better than nothing. Seungcheol needs to feel sometimes even if it wasn't as often as he should. "I'll be going to the meeting now," Seungcheol states before walking out of the room. Jeonghan sighs as he watches his friend, wishing that things could be easier for him.

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Seungcheol taps his foot against the floor as one of his father's advisors gives his report. It isn't anything interesting. Things are the same as they were at the last meeting. Seungcheol doesn't understand why he's required to be here. His parents don't care much about his input anyway. He sits in a large throne of sorts beside a much larger one where a man in a rather gaudy outfit with an even more so crown on his brow is seated. They are positioned on a platform that is raised and at a bit of a distance from the large table where a bunch of other vampires sit. On one side are the King's personal advisors, each holding papers and flipping through them as the meeting progresses. On the other is Seungcheol's hand-picked future advisors, who like him have little power but are asked to attend meetings nonetheless. The advisors and the royals are all in a meeting room with a high ceiling and wide windows. The floor gleams and on the walls are self-portraits of past vampire kings. "Thank you, Advisor Donghee," the King says, "Moving on, I've been receiving reports about our vampires being killed while visiting the human world. Advisor Kangmin would you please elaborate for everyone else what has been happening." Seungcheol perks up at his father's words. This is new. A man with slicked back hair and a crisp suit stands up. He clears his throat before explaining, "As you know, we make note of vampires traveling from the society to the human world. When we were checking those who had returned, we noticed that some of the vampires were missing. We waited for a bit of time before sending out our field agents. They found our missing vampires in various locations in the human world all dead. If you would, please take a look at the pictures from the scene. As you can see, the vampires were killed using a wooden stake and as you know that method does not always work, but it did for these vampires. Alongside these obvious murder weapons, we found garlic at the scene. These point to humans being the main suspect of these killings. Humans are the ones who have crafted these legends about slaying our kind after all."

"Advisor Kangmin, when did these killings start?" Hansol asks from where he sits across from the man.

"A couple of weeks ago," The advisor answers.

"Is it hunters?" Advisor Sejong asks.

"We are currently investigating that, but we all highly believe that they are the reason for the deaths," Advisor Kangmin states. The table erupts into side conversations as all the vampires try to make sense of the situation. Seungcheol frowns as he ponders this information. Hunters. Humans whose very job is the slaughtering of vampire kind. A long time ago, hunters and vampires would kill each other endlessly. That was until a truce was called. Vampires vowed to not harm any human in search of blood and hunters would not slaughter any vamp unless they were to kill a living human. The society has laws in place that are against drinking live human blood, so there is no way that a hunter killed these vamps because of that. And if that were the case, why would the hunters go after the vampires like this? Why now when their truce has held strong for many years? "Silence!" The King shouts. The room falls quiet after that and the advisors all turn to look at the King. "How many have we lost?" The King asks.