Briar Rose - Taekook

Chapter 32

Update like I promised! idk how you're going to feel about this...

XXXII: Taehyung

Mark him.

Jungkook was dying. My soulmate was dying in the room right before me, and the only remote chance he had of reviving was from my mark. It felt like a sudden lead weight was dropped on my shoulders, crushing me whole.

I had always thought that when I marked my soulmate, it would be a romantic moment. Soft candlelight, silk sheets, maybe even some rose petals carpeting the floor. We would entwine our hearts together, and I would finally be able to turn him into a vampire so he could spend all of eternity with me. I never thought that I would have to do it when he was half dead from poison, and crying out in pain. As a desperate act to try and save his life.

"Do you think he'll be able to take it?" Lisa asks, squeezing my hand when she saw how white my face had become.

Jin hesitates. "I held off on the option of marking him at first, because it's such a risky business. To turn someone into a vampire, you have to inject toxins into the body to kill off the human part, and some don't even survive the process. But with Jungkook, the risks are even higher. His body is already weak from the poison. Very weak, actually. The chances that he'll survive..." Jin doesn't finish his sentence. He doesn't have to. The full impact of his words sink in, and I feel like someone's punched me full-force in the stomach.

"The poison's already coursing through his body alarmingly fast. At this rate, it will be a miracle if he can last till morning." Jin says, and Lisa gasps, covering her mouth. I feel like I'm choking on air, barely being able to suck in a breath. The bite of food I had eaten before now makes me feel sick.

"But how was he―" The answer dawns on me before Jin can say, and I curl my hands into fists, feeling rage build up inside of me like burning hot magma. There was only one way that he could have possibly been poisoned. "The dagger. The dagger Lucius cut him with was laced with poison, wasn't it?" Jin nods gravely, and my mind seems to go white with rage.

"Damn it!"

My fist comes striking down on a nearby table, and Jin and Lisa both flinch as the table breaks in half and crashes to the floor. "I'll kill him," I growl, hands shaking. "I'll resurrect him from the deepest pits of hell and skewer him with a blunt knife over and over until he dies in agony. Then I'll revive him again and do it all over. If Jungkook dies, so will he."

"Tae..." Jin tries to put a hand on my arm but I wave him away. He backs away quickly when he sees the murder in my eyes, apparently not wanting to meet the same end as the table.

"What is the poison?" I ask, a vile taste blooming in my mouth.

"It's ricin." Jin says. "It takes about three days to fully consume the body. Always fatal, and there's no antidote. There's nothing left for me to do. I can't heal him with any of my medicines. The only thing I can try is to give him painkillers so he feels minimal pain until the end."

Until the end. My anger surges up again, but I rear it in. I can't mark Jungkook while I'm bathed in rage. It would only hurt him. No matter how slim the odds were, if there was a chance he would live, I would pounce on it. I would probably curse myself for eternity if I let my soulmate die without doing anything to try and save him.

"Don't let anyone come in," I say, and Jin nods, understanding quickly. "Good luck. You're going to need it." He draws a sign across his heart, a gesture to give safe passage, as I click the door open.

The room is laden with shadows when I enter, and I suck in a breath when I see Jungkook. He lies still as death on the bed, his face bloodless and looking so much smaller and frailer than before. His breathing is shallow, and the color of his face is horribly off. When I take his small hand in mine, he barely reacts.