infinity || minsung

"rehearsal"

chapter 2
minho

I met my family in 2005. I found my brothers and the love of my life, and they welcomed me as if they had been waiting for me. I became a vampire, got married, we adopted a cat — everything was perfect. On the surface, at least.

Vampire life comes with restrictions. First and foremost: humans can never know about us. I had to cut all ties with my mother and father, let them believe I'd died in a car crash. For years I hid away, missing them, watching them mourn from a distance.

It was eating away at me. I wanted to believe I was strong enough not to need them, but I still felt 17, like a kid pretending to be an adult.

Only one rule to follow... and I broke it. Kind of.

I came up with a work-around. If I didn't tell my parents I was a vampire specifically — just that I was different, not dead as they had believed — would that technically be breaking the law? Could I really be prosecuted?

Worst case scenario, I would be executed — I let the secret out, I'm the one responsible — as well as Jisung, my primary creator, my accomplice. My parents, the sole humans who know, would be killed, and likely my coven as well, as they facilitated my crime. (To say nothing of Felix's history with the Volturi.)

I can't say I regret telling my parents that I was alive. It had hurt like nothing else to know that they were in pain, grieving my death. But sometimes I wonder if it was worth this. Their heads are on the line and they don't even know it. I'm afraid the worst case scenario is worse than I can imagine.

───

The words are blurring together and my eyes keep slipping away. Jisung is puttering in the kitchen, making soup in our biggest pot.

He catches me looking. "Has Mr. Elton proposed to Emma yet?"

"What?"

"In the book?"

"Oh. Yeah."

He smiles dubiously and goes back to chopping basil. I get off the couch and root around in the cupboard, pull out the hand blender and pass it to him.

"Thank you, my love."

"You're welcome." I push myself up onto the counter and swing my legs.

"You okay?" he asks after a moment.

"Jisungie, can we go over the plan again? You know, for the Volturi...?"

"Oh. Of course." He leans back against the counter. "So, once they decide to come, our only warning will be Felix. In all honesty, I'm not sure he'll see it fast enough — Italy is so far away, plus they'll probably set out with pure intentions."

"I was thinking that too."

"They'll either visit the guys in Paraguay or come here. Both will mean a date will be set for our trial. I'm not sure if they'll send for the guard to meet us here, or if we'll all go to Volterra."

"We'll tell them that we didn't do anything wrong," I say. "My parents have known for twelve years and they haven't told anyone. I've never said the word 'vampire,' used my abilities, shown myself in the sunlight or fed around them. We have behaved according to the law."

He smiles at my rehearsal. "Yes. And it's to our advantage that we're useful, we're willing to serve a sentence to pay off our debt. My mind reading, your..." He still isn't sure what to call it. "Electricity? We'd be beneficial powers to have in their arsenal. Felix, Changbin and Seungmin will give themselves over as well if need be."