Chapter 3:
It was quite the ordeal, finding your way back home. After calming yourself and gathering your bearings, you discovered that you had ended up in a building just opposite of The Red Satin nightclub. After realizing that you didn't have your clutch, which contained your phone and your wallet, you returned to the club to see if they had found it. You were painfully aware of the secret underground vampire club that waited just underneath the floor, but you tried your best to remain calm.
As a stroke of luck, the bar patron had your clutch after someone had turned it into them. after glancing inside your wallet, you were pleasantly surprised to see that only your cash had been stolen. You had expected all your cards to be gone too, but your ID and credit cards, were still there. Luckily you only brought twenty dollars in cash, so it wasn't a huge loss.
After retrieving your clutch, you caught a ride back to your apartment. Your phone had died, so you couldn't check to see if Selena or Katie had been calling you, but you expected that they had. From what you gathered, it was still very early morning, which meant you had been missing for only a couple of hours. Perhaps they thought that you had gone home with someone. Either way, you were sure that they were worried.
You were still holding your neck, feeling sharp pains coming from the wound every now and then. That pain and the feeling of dried blood between your fingers were constant reminders that you hadn't dreamt that up. You had escaped the captivity of real-life vampires. And one of them had tried to suck your blood. You were lucky that the driver didn't seem to care about you because he hadn't asked any questions.
You were quiet, staring at the floor of the car, surprisingly calm. You weren't sure why you weren't freaking out, considering you had just learned that vampires were real. Perhaps this was what shock felt like.
When you got back to your apartment, you went straight to your room and walked into your bathroom. You stared at yourself in the mirror, huge bags under your eyes, pale pasty skin, and hair that looked like a rat's nest. You took a deep breath and removed your hand from your neck. You winced at the site. There were two puncture wounds from the vampire's fangs and dried blood was smeared all around them, staining your skin and your hand from where you were covering it. You turned on the sink and started desperately scrubbing your hands and your neck with water and soap, wincing at the stinging in the bite marks.
After the wound was a clean as you could get it, you took a shower quickly, washing off the dirt, grime, and sweat from the night before. You let the warm water massage out the tense muscles in your shoulders and your back. After stepping out of the shower, you immediately pulled out a bandage from your first aid kit and applied it to your neck. You then changed into more comfortable clothing: a pair of leggings and a long-sleeve t-shirt.
You left your hair hanging past your shoulders, hoping to cover the bandage on your neck. The fewer questions you got about it, the better. Hopefully you could put this whole mess behind you and forget it every happened.
"Y/N!" You flinched when the door to your room burst open and Katie and Selena stood in the doorframe. They were both pale and still wearing the clothes from the previous night. Katie's eyes were molten as she stalked into the room and marched straight up to you. You gasped and jerked back as she threw her arms up and slammed them down on your shoulders.
"Where the hell have you been? Why didn't you answer any of my phone calls or text messages? Do you think it's fun when your friend goes missing after they've gone to the bathroom in a crowded club? Do you have anything to say for yourself?" She demanded, giving you a hard shake. You opened your mouth to reply, but she had started shouting again. "I thought you were kidnapped! I thought you were dead! You didn't bother to send a text that you were okay and then you return home and don't even say anything to anybody? What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"
She released your shoulders and started pacing up and down in front of you as you sank down onto the bed. You looked away sheepishly, having nothing to say to her. How could you explain that you were being interrogated by three vampires? How could you explain that one of them had even tried to kill you by drinking your blood?
"Katie, calm down. Let's give her a chance to explain." Selena said, walking in behind Katie. She sat down on the bed next to you and wrapped you into a tight hug. "I'm really glad you're okay. We really thought something bad had happened to you."
"I'm sorry for worrying you." You said softly, patting Selena's shoulder. Katie was still standing above you, glaring hard with her arms crossed. "My phone died, so I couldn't call or text you." You continued, looking up at her with pleading eyes. Katie sighed and relaxed, sitting down on the bed next to you. she wrapped you into a hug and you sighed, hugging her back.
"I'm sorry for yelling." She said softly. "I've just been really worried."
"I know, I'm sorry." You whispered in return, sighing into the hug. You really did love your two best friends more than anyone in the world. They were the only people you could count on to have your back, which was why it was heart wrenching to have to lie to them.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang out and the three of you looked up in surprise.
"Did you invite anyone over?" Katie asked. You and Selena both shook your heads and the three of you exchanged worried looks. "Who the hell could it be at 8 in the morning?" Katie continued, checking her phone. She stood up. "I'll go check."
Katie walked out of the room and to the front door of the apartment, while Selena followed and paused in the threshold to your room. You tucked your phone in your leggings and stood up after them, feeling your eyes dropping from physical and mental exhaustion.
"Um, hello? Can I help you?" You heard Katie's voice at the door as you rubbed your eyes sleepily. You felt like sleeping for the next week.
"Is there a Y/N L/N who lives here?" the deep male voice wafted through the door and you blinked slowly, wondering why it sounded so familiar.
"Who's asking?"
"I'll take that as ayes. Step aside please."
Selena gasped and walked out of your view. You scrunched your eyebrows together and made your way out of your room.
"What the hell are you—"
Selena's voice trailed off as you emerged. Your jaw dropped and fear burst through you as you took in the scene before you. It was one of the three vampires, the stoic one called Jungkook, standing in the entrance of the apartment. He was holding Katie's arm and her face was pale and glassy, like she was in a trance. Selena was frozen, staring straight at him as he stared right back at her. Suddenly, she began to collapse, and you yelped, running forward to catch her before she fell to the ground.
"Selena!" you exclaimed, falling to your knees under her weight. You pulled her against you, brushing her hair out of her face. She was passed out and her skin was cold to the touch. You glared up at the vampire as he released Katie's arm and shut the front door behind him. He stared at you for a few seconds, before he turned to Katie.
"Go to your room, take a nap, and forget this happened." He ordered monotonously. Katie's face remained blank and glassy as she turned obediently and walked back to her room, closing the door behind her. You stared after her in shock and horror.
"What the hell did you do to her?" You demanded. Jungkook rolled his eyes.
"She's just compelled, relax." He muttered, his tone bored. You gritted your teeth and hugged Selena's unconscious body closer to you.
"What do you want?" You ground out angrily. Jungkook crossed his arms and let out an annoyed sigh.
"You need to come with me." He said tersely.
"And why in the world would I ever go anywhere with you?" You snapped harshly, proud at how menacing your voice came out, even though you were terrified on the inside. Jungkook rolled his eyes and gave you a hard glare.
"I'm not sure if you're willfully ignorant or just flat out dumb as a rock. So, let me spell it out for you. You might be resistant to compulsion, so I can't force you to come with me, but you're still human. And so are your friends." He licked his lips sadistically. "If you don't come with me, I'll kill them. Simple as that." Your blood chilled at the look on his face and you swallowed hard, looking back down at Selena.
"How do I know you'll leave them alone?" You asked quietly. Jungkook let out a humorless chuckle.
"You'll just have to take my word for it." He deadpanned. You gritted your teeth and closed your eyes, trying to convince yourself it would be all right. If you cooperated, then he would have no reason to go back on his word.
"And she'll be okay?" You whispered. Jungkook let out a grunt of irritation and tapped his foot impatiently.
"She just asleep. She's not dead. She'll wake up in a few hours." He snapped petulantly. You gulped again and hugged Selena's body close to yours, feeling tears well up in your eyes.
"I can't... I can't just leave her like this." You said softly, feeling both fear and guilt for her creep up in your chest.
"Look," Suddenly, he marched right up next to you, his eyes molten with annoyance, bordering on rage. He bent down and scooped Selena up into his arms, causing you to yelp in surprise. He carried your friend to the living room and dumped her on the couch, turning back to you. "She's fine. We're in a hurry, so unless you want me to feed on your friends, which I am not above doing by the way, you'll come with me now." Just to emphasize his point, his pulled his lips back, revealing the fangs underneath.
"Okay, okay, I'll come." You said quickly, standing up.
You raised your hands defensively. You were painfully aware of how easily he could kill your friends and considering how uncaring he appeared, you knew he wouldn't hesitate if it came down to it. Jungkook pursed his lips and moved toward you, reaching out to latch a hand around your wrist. You flinched at his touch and gasped as he yanked you behind him, pulling you out of the apartment. You were surprised that his grip was warm, like he was a normal human and as you stepped out into the sunlight, you were even more surprised when he didn't react to it. You stared at him as he pulled you down the street, waiting for him to blister or shrivel up, or even sparkle if that's what it came to, but nothing happened. He dragged you along until he reached a car parked on the side of the road. He opened the passenger's side and shoved you inside, shutting the door hard behind you.
You flinched at the loud sound and stared down at your hands, clenching them to fists so they would stop shaking. You tried to calm your breathing, telling yourself that this wasn't your death march. If he had wanted to kill you, he would have already done so. Even though he was a monster out of a childhood nightmare, he hadn't hurt you yet. Jungkook slipped into the driver's seat and turned the car on, without looking in your direction. You continued to look straight down, terrified of looking over at him or anywhere else. Even though logic was telling you that you weren't going to die, your survival instinct had kicked in and was there in full force. You didn't want to give him any reason to reconsider sparing your life.
The car ride seemed to stretch on forever and your anxiety seemed to spike exponentially with every agonizing second that passed. You were bursting at the seams with questions. Questions about where you were being taken, but also about him and his role. You wanted to know how he was able to walk in the sun. You wanted to know how his compulsion powers worked. You wanted to know about the blood drinking. Was human blood the only source for sustenance? Could they drink animal blood? Would they die if they didn't drink blood at all? On top of all of that, you wanted to know if they even could die at all. Were they technically undead? Or was it just like being human but having immortality?
You were terrified, but also strangely fascinated. You glanced over at Jungkook, suddenly feeling brave enough to look him in the eye. He was staring straight ahead, one hand on the wheel, the other on his thigh. His jaw was tight, his eyes as black as coals. You could clearly remember the gold in his irises when he had tried to compel you a million years ago. The gold had been hypnotic, which you supposed was obvious, but the black in his eyes now looked dead and lifeless. You watched his body and focused on his chest, watching for the rise and fall that would indicate breathing.
Suddenly, the car jerked to a stop and you gasped, looking up out of the windshield. The car had parked in a driveway of a large manor surrounded by a thicket. You were a little surprised, expecting that you would be taken to the beaten down building where you'd woken up after the club. The manor was large and had Victorian architecture, but it wasn't large enough to be considered a mansion. It seemed fitting that this was a vampire dwelling, because even though it was sunny that day, the shroud of trees around the manor made it appear much darker.
Jungkook was suddenly yanking the passenger door open and his hand closed around your wrist again, dragging you out of the car. You gasped, having not even noticed him getting out of the car, and stumbled forward as he slammed the door shut behind you. He dragged you up to the manor entrance and banged on the door.
Almost immediately after he'd knocked, the door swung open and your blood ran cold at the sight of Taehyung standing over the threshold, a cruel smirk on his face. The last time you'd seen him, he'd been drinking your blood. You instinctively reached up to rub your neck where your bandage covered the bite wound. Taehyung stepped aside as Jungkook dragged you along with him and stepped inside.
"Nice to see you again, poppet." Taehyung sneered, grinning sadistically. You swallowed hard and recoiled away from him, your hands resuming their shaking again. He was still the one you were most afraid of. He seemed to be the loose cannon, the unpredictable, uncontrollable killing machine, who didn't care who he hurt.
The large door shut behind you with a loud bang and you flinched at the loud sound. It was dark inside the manor, even though there were a few lamps that were lit around the foyer, which only added to the eerie atmosphere. Jungkook's hand was still gripping your wrist tightly and as you felt Taehyung moving behind you, you unconsciously shuffled closer to him. Jungkook glanced at you and raised an eyebrow and you quickly stepped back.
"Where are they?" Jungkook asked as Taehyung rounded you to stand in front of you and Jungkook. Taehyung crossed his arms and jerked his head to the side, staring directly at you with a sinister smirk. You stared right back, trying not to show how scared you were feeling. Jungkook pulled you along and made his way inside the manor with Taehyung bringing up the rear. You could feel his eyes on your back, like a demon.
Jungkook pulled you into a grand dining room and you noticed two figures standing near the head of the table across the room. You recognized Jimin as he turned his head and his gaze landed on you. The other man you didn't recognize. He seemed older than Jimin, but not by much. He was tall, slender and had sleek black hair that was gelled back in a sweep. You could see his translucent skin from all the way across the room, and as Jungkook pulled you toward them, you were horrified to see that the new man had red eyes. You jerked back at the sight, but Jungkook kept you at his side and wouldn't let you break free, continuing to drag you along.
"Y/N..." Jimin smiled wide and reached for your arms as Jungkook shoved you forward. You stumbled and Jimin caught you, wrapping his slender hands around your biceps to steady you. As soon as you got your bearings, you pulled away, pulling your arms to chest like he was the scum of the earth.
"Don't touch me." You whispered. Jimin sighed, but his face never lost the kind smile.
"I know you're scared, but would it be selfish of me if I said I'm happy to see you again?" He smiled and his eyelashes fluttered as he peered into your eyes. Your cheeks warmed and you scowled, shuffling away.
"What the hell do you people want? It's obviously not to kill me, because you would have done that already." You hissed, lowering your hands to your sides. Taehyung appeared next to Jimin and he let out a wry chuckle.
"Believe me, poppet, I wanted nothing more than to rip your throat out when you ran out on me." He gave you an angry glare and you shivered, looking away from his hard stare.
"Don't listen to him, Y/N. You're perfectly safe." Jimin tried to reassure, which honestly did nothing to comfort you.
"Y/N, was it?" The new man stepped forward and extended his hand for yours. You stared at his pale hand and looked up into his red eyes and shuffled back. The man smiled and withdrew his hand sympathetically.
"I understand your hesitation. My name is Lazarus. Why don't you take a seat? I will explain everything." He gestured to the table and took a seat at the head of the table. Jungkook pulled out the next chair and pointed at you and then at the chair. You clenched your jaw, but obeyed, sliding into the seat. Jungkook took the spot next to you, while Taehyung and Jimin moved to the other side of the table.
"I understand that you are resistant to compulsion?" Lazarus began, steepling his hands in front of him. you avoided looking into his gaze, still put off by the red eyes and shrugged.
"I guess." You muttered softly, staring at the table top.
"Not only are you resistant, but it appears that your blood may be poisonous to us." That got your attention. You looked up in surprise as Lazarus glanced between you and Taehyung, who was sitting across from you. You turned to see Taehyung glaring hard at you, his lip curling in anger. You swallowed hard.
Everything had happened so fast the previous night, you barely had a chance to understand or process what had happened. But the fact was that Taehyung had tried to drain you, but something stopped him. Something caused him to start choking, which gave you an opening to escape. And according to this man, that something had been your blood. Which meant... they couldn't control you or drink your blood. Somehow... you were vampire resistant.
"So, let me explain a few things to you. as you've probably gathered by now, everyone in this room, excluding you are vampires. We consume human blood as our main source of sustenance." Lazarus said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. Like he wasn't confirming everything you'd been dreading. You dropped your gaze back to the table top, still not saying anything.
"Vampires have been around since the before the fall of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Roman Empire, humans discovered our existence as we were locked in a war with the human for centuries, which is also known as the Dark Ages."
"The war was devastating for both sides, so after it was all over, the vampires erased it from human memory and vowed to never allow humans to know about vampires again to avoid that kind of bloodshed."
"Today, the laws that the oldest vampires put in place are still around to make sure nothing like that war happens again. These laws have been around for a millennium and are very sacred to our people."
"In a case like yours, where you witnessed a vampire in real life, we would simply erase your memory of it ever happening and that would have been that. However, that's not what happened, so something else had to be done."
You were breathing hard, wringing your hands together nervously as you processed the information you were given. Vampires had been around for almost two millennia and no one ever knew because they had erased themselves from history. It made sense, but it was still terrifying to think about. It was terrifying to realize that these monsters had been around for so long and had never been exposed. And what was even more terrifying was that you were now going to be dragged into this mess, simply because of a weird mutation that made you resistant to them. At this point, you weren't sure if your resistance was a blessing or a curse.
"As soon as Jimin told me about your unique ability, I was intrigued. I wondered, how could a human be able to resist vampire compulsion? Perhaps she is stronger than other humans. But then we returned to find Taehyung poisoned and nearly—"
"Yes, I think she gets it. Get to the point please." Taehyung snapped, cutting Lazarus off. you flinched at his harsh voice and glanced up at him in surprise. Jimin slapped a hand to the table and whirled on him.
"Watch your tongue, Taehyung. Don't forget you're speaking to an Elder who saved your life. You should be grateful." Jimin hissed, his eyes flashing dangerously. You shuddered at his cold threat and looked away from them as Taehyung scoffed.
"As I was saying, I knew there was something very different about you after I realized that your blood has a repellant against vampires. So, I began to think about the possibilities, and I think I found the answer." He smiled and reached out to latch a hand around your wrist. You gasped and tried to jerk back, but his grip was firm, and you couldn't pull free. You looked up into his red eyes fearfully.
"I want you to understand that what I'm about to tell you will change your life. You will not be able to conduct your life in the same way ever again. So please be prepared." He warned, raising his eyebrows seriously. You gulped and pressed your lips together to keep them from trembling. You wanted to tell him that you didn't want to know, that you would rather be ignorant, but no words would come. Lazarus looked directly into your eyes and began to speak.
"You, Y/N, are the last descendant of the very first vampire to ever exist: Dracula."