Chapter 31:
"Jungkook! Please, tell me what's happening, what's..." You trailed off, looking up when you saw six different people emerge from the shadows and the wooded area behind you. Your heart jumped into your throat as Jungkook continued to thrash and sob in your lap. Your eyes were focused on the leader of the group who stepped up in front of you. He was blowing into a whistle of some kind, but you couldn't hear any sound come out of it. He stopped blowing and smirked as Jungkook slowly stopped seizing, falling limply in your arms, his head lolling around and his eyes shut. Your eyes widened when you saw blood trickling out of his ears.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise." The leader said, an amused smile on his face. "I wasn't expecting you to fall into my lap like this." He commented, drawing your attention back to him. You could only stare in shock and confusion. His familiar features and handsome face lit up with excitement as he looked over you and Jungkook, who was curled up in your lap.
"C-Caden?" You gaped as Caden stepped into the light, grinning down at you.
"Hello, Y/N." He said, twirling the long thin whistle in his fingers. Jungkook groaned, his eyebrows scrunching together, and you pulled him fully on your lap, brushing your fingers through his hair, absolutely horrified by the blood trickling out of his ears. You could barely focus when he was in such pain.
"W-what did you do to him?" You whispered, using your sleeve to wipe away some of the blood. He was still twitching and his face had gone even paler than normal, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"This is a high frequency whistle." Caden said, twirling the small cylinder of steel in his fingers deftly. "It makes an excruciating sound at the ultrasonic range. Kind of like a dog whistle, but it only works on vampires. And it's way more effective." He nodded cruelly at Jungkook, who winced, gritting his teeth. You rubbed his ears, trying to massage them a bit. You weren't sure if it would help, but Jungkook's face relaxed a bit, which you took as good sign.
"What are you doing here?" You croaked, looking back up at him. You looked around at the other five people all surrounding you, closing a circle around you and your vampire passed out in your lap. They all had glinting eyes, and hungry looks on their faces as they stared at Jungkook. You noticed several of them had the same scary looking weapon either slung over their shoulder, or pointed directly at Jungkook. The weapon looked like a gun, but there was a contraption at the head that you recognized as part of a crossbow. Loaded into crossbow contraption at the top, was a sharp, scary looking stake. Your heart dropped in your chest as you understood who they were before Caden even had to say anything.
"We're vampire hunters, of course." Caden said, spreading his arms with a grin. The others snickered and one of them kicked at Jungkook's limp legs. You bristled and whipped your head at him, smacking his leg away.
"Don't you fucking touch him." You wrapped your arms around Jungkook protectively and glared at the hunter as he tilted his head back and laughed.
"I think we got a sympathizer here, Caden." The man said, grinning wickedly at you. Caden let out a humorless chuckle, tilting his head cruelly. His lip curled.
"Honestly, that's not surprising. She's been parading around with vampires for months." He said, giving you a disgusted look. His eyes dipped down over your entire body, lingering on where your hands were wrapped around the unconscious vampire. His lip curled and his nose wrinkled and if you weren't terrified, you might have felt ashamed from the way he was looking at you. You swallowed, trying to regain a bit of composure as you glared up at him.
"You've been a hunter this whole time? Ever since I've known you?" You asked, your voice hoarse and not as firm as you hoped it would be. Caden grinned and nodded, spreading his arms out.
"Of course! But I didn't become a full-fledged hunter until a couple of weeks ago. This is my first real job." He twirled the whistle in his hand you saw the glint of a ring that you'd never noticed before.
"Why are you humoring her, Caden? She's a sympathizer. Let's kill them both and get out of here." One of the other hunters growled and poked Jungkook's side with his weapon. You shoved the weapon away and bared your teeth at him.
"Hold on, I want to figure out what's the real story here." Caden crouched down so he was level with your eyes and you pulled back, wrinkling your nose at him. Caden tilted his head and opened his mouth, a taunting expression taking over his face.
At that moment, Jungkook moaned and shifted in your lap, making both your attentions return to him. You looked down at him as his eyes scrunched before he blinked them open. You breathed out a sigh of relief and put your hand on his cheek, seeing a bit of color return to his cheeks. He tried to sit up, but you tightened your grip, keeping him against you.
"Don't move too much." You whispered, seeing him wince at the movement.
"Y/N..." Jungkook groaned and lifted a hand to rub his head. "What happened?" He blinked around, taking in the hunters and Caden, who was still crouched down next to you. His eyes darkened and he tried to sit up again, but you held firm, brushing his hair out of his eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm gonna get us out of this." You crooned, kissing him softly on the forehead. "I promise, I won't let anything happen to you." You assured, glaring back up at Caden, who was staring at the exchange, a mask of intrigue on his features.
"Wait... she isn't just a sympathizer, she's a vampire slut." One of the hunters said from behind you. "I've never seen one in real life." Something poked your back and you hissed, smacking at whoever it was behind you. One of the hunters cackled, drawing his crossbow back.
"Wow, Y/N, I really didn't take you to be a vampire slut." Caden said, his eyes glinting evilly. His lip curled as he jerked his chin at Jungkook. "You really get off to this monster? Does he rock your sheets?" You bristled, hot fury creeping into your stomach. Caden smirked and tilted his head, licking his lips. "Maybe you just need a real man to show you how it's really supposed to feel." He reached out, caressing under your chin. His touch made beetles crawl over your skin and you jerked back, slapping his hand away.
"Don't fucking touch me." You snapped, letting the venom seep into your voice. "He's a better man that you'd ever be. He doesn't abuse his girlfriends." You said, hoping to hit him where it hurt. Caden blinked in surprise.
"Abuse? I never abused Katie, if that's what you're implying." He noted, lifting a skeptical eyebrow at you. You scoffed.
"Bullshit. She was miserable with you." You snapped, gritting your teeth. Caden smirked and quirked an eyebrow.
"Not where it counted." You made a disgusted face and he laughed at your expression, throwing his head back.
You shook your head, trying to get the lewd images out of your head. You needed to stay focused. If you just kept him talking, maybe you could figure a way out of this. So far, it seemed pretty bleak, but the priority was Jungkook. You needed to make sure they didn't kill him. It didn't matter what happened to you.
"How... how is this even possible?" You said finally, as Caden focused his malicious eyes back onto yours. "The last time I saw you was at the hospital and... you shouldn't remember who I am." You whispered, thinking back to when Jimin had supposedly compelled Selena and Caden to forget who you were, to forget you ever existed.
"Oh yes, the hospital." Caden sighed and tilted his head, looking up as he thought back to that night as well. "Katie's fine, by the way, I'm sure you were very concerned." He gave you a pointed look and you gritted your teeth, feeling a pang of shame. "And as for your vampire bodyguard who tried to compel me," He held up his hand, tapping the intricate ring on his middle finger. "I have precautions to ensure I'm never compelled." He grinned and you gulped, staring at the ring. So many questions flooded through your brain.
"But... if you knew he was a vampire, why didn't you do anything then?" You asked, feeling strangely out of breath. You sucked in air, but it felt like there wasn't enough oxygen in the air.
"I didn't have any equipment then." Caden said matter-of-factly. "Otherwise you and your vampire buddy would be dead. So instead, I followed you to this road before I lost the trail. I've been waiting for one of you to pass by here ever since." Caden smirked and stood back up, tilting his head a bit as he scanned you up and down. "Come to think of it, I've seen you with another vampire, haven't I? This guy I recognize from school." He kicked Jungkook's arm and you yanked it back, almost hissing at him. "Then there was the one at the hospital... but wasn't there a third one who helped you move out of the apartment? Do you fuck all three of them? Is it some kind of reverse harem? Do you have some weird blood ritual between the three?"
The others laughed as rage and shame curled in your stomach. Jungkook growled, trying to sit up. He tried pulling out of your grip, but you kept your arms tight around him. It was both for your own support and his.
"Shut the fuck up." He snarled, pulling against your arms. You kept him tight against you, way too scared to let him go in case one of these men got trigger happy. "Don't talk about her that way."
"Shh," You whispered, rubbing circles into his shoulders. You glared at Caden, more bothered by the fact that he was offending Jungkook rather than insulting you.
"Honestly, what is it about you, huh? How have you managed to ensnare three different vampires?" Caden asked, rubbing his chin in bewilderment as he stared down at you. "I thought it was maybe because they'd compelled you or something, but you look lucid. Is your pussy really that good?"
Jungkook growled and pulled out of your grasp at his words. You gasped and tried to grab his arm, but he was already rising to his feet, his eyes red with untamed fury.
"I'll fucking kill you." Jungkook's voice was almost unrecognizable as he made to lunge for Caden throat.
"Ah, ah, ah..." Caden took a step back and twirled the whistle around, raising it to his lips. "Be careful, or I might have to punish you again." Jungkook halted in his motion, his hands fisting at his sides and his shoulders hunching as he glared at Caden with the most murderous expression you'd ever seen. It made the hairs on the back of your neck stand. You stood next to Jungkook and grabbed his forearm, rubbing reassuring circles in his tense muscles.
"Let him say what he wants." You murmured, your lips close to his ear. "He just wants to provoke you. Don't fall into his trap." Jungkook breathed heavily, still glaring daggers at Caden, but his shoulders relaxed and he slipped his hand into yours, squeezing it tightly.
"Enough of this, Caden. Kill them and you'll have made your bones." One of the hunters closest to you growled, poking you with his crossbow gun. You flinched away from him as his lips curled into cruel sneer.
Caden sighed and slung his crossbow over his shoulder, giving you a mock sympathetic look. "Well, I hate to be a buzzkill to this reunion, but he's right. I have to kill you now. I would say it's been a pleasure, but then I'd be lying."
He smirked and raised the crossbow to point right at Jungkook's forehead. His hand tightened around yours and you saw the color drain from his face as the stake clicked into place in Caden's crossbow. A surge of panic flooded through you as Caden's finger moved to the trigger. You quickly stepped in front of Jungkook, blocking the stake's path.
"You don't want to do that." You said quickly, your voice coming out a little higher pitched. Jungkook took your shoulder, trying to move you out of the way, but you shook his hand away. You'd be damned if you let him stay in the line of fire.
"Oh no, I really think I do." Caden said with a cackle. He gestured with the crossbow, his eyes darkening. "Now move. I'll get to killing you in a second."
You stood your ground and instead held up a palm. There was a small plan forming in your head, but you honestly didn't know how well it would do. You didn't have time to think about it, you needed to come up with something now.
"I can offer you something better." You rushed out, ignoring Jungkook's hand around your wrist. Caden quirked an eyebrow.
"Really? And what would that be?" he asked, his crossbow, still aimed directly at you. You swallowed and looked around at the other hunters, whose eyes were glinting maliciously as they stared at their cornered prey.
"One vampire doesn't really seem like much to sneeze at." You said slowly, making sure that Caden's attention was focused on you. "And if this is supposed to be where you make your bones... then how about four vampires?" Caden's eyebrows rose and you knew you had him. These were vampire hunters, people who lived to kill other vampires. If there was a chance for them to kill more than one, they would take it.
It was ironic. They thought they were the saviors of humanity by hunting the bloodthirsty monsters. But in the process, they themselves became the monsters instead.
"And I suppose you would know exactly where I could find those vampires?" Caden asked, lowering his crossbow slightly. You lifted your chin, trying to look braver than you felt.
"Not only can I show you three other vampires, but one of them is also an Elder." You said, watching as Caden's eyebrows pinched together in confusion.
"An Elder?" One of the other hunters asked beside you. "What the hell are Elders?"
You blinked in surprise. You looked around at the hunters, to see all of them had the same confused expression on their face. You glanced at Jungkook and he was giving you a matching expression. You had them. This was your ticket out of this.
"Oh... you don't know?" You turned back at Caden, your lips tilting into a sneer. "You don't know about the Elders? Or the Council? Or any of the dynamics of vampire society? Really?" You smirked as Caden scowled. "I thought you all knew who you were hunting?" You taunted, giving him a nasty sneer. Caden's teeth bared and he lowered the crossbow, slinging it back over his shoulder. He looked you up and down, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"And how do you know all of this?" He demanded, obviously vexed. You rolled your eyes and jerked your head toward the other hunters.
"Your lapdog said it. I'm a vampire slut, of course." You said with a shrug. Caden's lip curled into a grimace as he looked between you and Jungkook.
"Hmm, and I suppose you want something in return for this?" You nodded.
"Yeah, our lives." You slipped your hand into Jungkook's. "In exchange, I'll be giving you the identity of two other vampires, an Elder, and more information about vampires that you and your little society have ever had. I think it's a fair trade." You said, holding up your fingers to tick off what you were offering.
Caden pursed his lips and looked between you and Jungkook, then down at where your hands were entwined. A smirk formed on his face and something akin to hunger crossed through his eyes. You shuddered.
"It would be a fair trade. Except for the part about letting this vermin live." He nodded at Jungkook and you tightened your grip around his hand. You opened your mouth to argue, but Caden held up a hand, silencing you. "But I could be persuaded, if you give me something more. If you want me to let your precious freak live, then you'll give this to me."
You narrowed your eyes, feeling an uneasy feeling curl in your stomach. "What do you want?" You asked cautiously. Caden grinned, his eyes darting over your face and body.
"I want you, of course." He crooned, licking his lips. "I want you to be mine."
Jungkook lunged, but Caden was ready and he blew into his whistle. Jungkook immediately screamed and grabbed at his ears, collapsing to his knees again. You fell next to him, grabbed his head and his wrists, horrified once again by the blood-curdling scream of pain.
"Stop it!" You begged, looking up at Caden, tears in your eyes. "Stop it, you're hurting him, please!"
Caden released the whistle and Jungkook fell limp, trembling in your lap. You whimpered, hugging him against your chest and stared bloody murder at Caden, who was grinning, twirling the whistle in his fingers.
"Do we have an agreement, then?" He asked unapologetically, giving you a hungry smile. You exhaled hard, feeling nausea churn in your stomach as you imagined what a future would look like with Caden. But you couldn't bare to see Jungkook in more pain. And at least this way, he'd survive. He would survive this. And maybe one day, he would come for you. At least... that's what you told yourself as you steeled yourself and looked up into Caden's eyes.
"Yes, fine, I'll do it."
"No... Y/N, don't." Jungkook croaked, lifting his head. He grabbed your forearm and you looked down at him, tears welling up in your eyes as you gave him a sad smile.
"Don't worry about me." You whispered, pressing your lips between his eyes. "I told you I was going to get you out of this. I promised you." You gave him a peck on the lips and then released his shoulders, turning to Caden. "I'll be with you as long as you spare him and stop with that whistle." You said, your voice hard and your eyes falling flat.
Caden grinned. "Wonderful."
Caden bent down and grabbed your bicep, pulling you to your feet and planting you next to him. Two of the other hunters grabbed Jungkook's arm on either side and dragged him upright. His head lolled and he blinked awake, his face gaunt and pale. They forced him to stand and he swayed, close to falling over. You wanted to reach for him, but Caden's arm wrapped around your neck, planting you against his side.
"Alright, baby girl, show us the way." You cringed at his hot breath near you ear, but you obeyed, turning and pointing in the direction of the manor. You looked back at Jungkook, who was walking, his shoulders hunched, in between two of the hunters. The other three stood behind you, with cruel sneers on their faces. You locked eyes with Jungkook for a second and the two of your shared all your fears, worries, but also your determination in one split-second. You could get through this. Together.