"Hello sunflowers." Yumi chirps as she skips down the path to the witch's house.
"Someone is happy today." Jangmi comments as she greets the little girl, sitting on a chair looking out at her garden.
"Jungkook-ssi is courting my Appa... or something like that."
"He is? That's wonderful... isn't it?"
"I don't know what that means. Jungkook-ssi asked me to say yes."
"Did you say yes?"
"I did but I don't know what it means, Jangmi-nim."
The witch smiles sweetly at the little vampire, "It means that Jungkook wants to pay special attention to your father with the aim of being together. He asked for your permission because you are so important to your father."
"And Jungkook-ssi... I'm important to him too. So does that mean they are boyfriends? Does it mean they are going to kiss a lot? I think they were kissing when I left them alone when I was last here."
Jangmi laughs, "I think they are working towards being boyfriends... which probably means they will kiss."
"My Appa got Jungkook-ssi to take his gloves off. How is Nabi? Did she feed like I showed her?"
"She's still the same, Yumi. It's not looking good."
Yumi's face drops, "I don't want her to die... die again."
"I know but our options have run out now, it's been a long time."
Yumi walks into the basement and sadness hits her as she sees the same huddled figure on the straw in the corner. She goes over to the child and feels desperately helpless.
"We need to take her to Jungkook-ssi!" She exclaims.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, yes! He helped Fluff and I think he has magic... and he can help Nabi... I can't leave her/"
"I can put her on the sled if you think you can pull her there?"
"Yes, yes... we need to do it now!"
They move quickly, with Nabi being wrapped up in a blanket and in a state of semi-consciousness, it was relatively easy. Jangmi walked part of the way with Yumi but stopped and turned back once they were close. She didn't have anything against Jungkook but stepping foot on his property, was just a bit too far for her.
Yumi couldn't risk dragging the sled to the front of the house castle in case anyone saw. Tae was in town and had a day full of chores, due to visit Jungkook tomorrow. The little girl was breaking the agreement by straying from the witch's house because that's where she told her father that she would be spending the day but she hoped that he wouldn't mind if she was with Jungkook.
"Jungkook-ssi, Jungkook-ssi... please... I need your help!" She cried running up the garden after leaving the sled at the boundary fence, worried that she could hurt Nabi if she tried dragging her through the fence.
The old vampire was busy in his bedroom. Things had been hotting up with Tae and all the restraint in the world wasn't going to last forever. In the time since he'd got permission to court the farmer, their lives had pretty much been a continuation of before. Yumi visited as usual but when Tae arrived, they were given alone time by the little girl who used that time to sketch in the garden.
They were making plans too. Jungkook wanted to make the effort and after hunting one night he'd scouted out the farm just so he could see it but he felt compelled to get closer. It was the dead of the night, the smallest hours of the morning when he stood on the porch and was surprised to find the farmer wrapped in a blanket, rocking in a chair, reading a book, light cast by a small lamp beside him.
Tae's face was brighter than the lamp when he saw Jungkook and couldn't believe that the old vampire had ventured to that side of the forest. They had to keep quiet in case they woke Yumi who was sleeping in her bed but it proved to be challenging. The couple had kissed and whispered on the porch, enjoying the time together as the moon shone bright in the night sky. They were both affectionate and unable to keep their hands off of each other, deprived of such loving contact for so long and rediscovering arousal and intimacy made it a task to have space between them.
The ancient vampire knew it was a matter of time before they succeeded in arranging a night together and it inspired him to get his bedroom ready for when that day came. He ditched the bedroom when he heard Yumi's cries and flew through the door and down the staircase to the back of the house. He nearly bumped into the little girl as he raced to the garden.
"What is it?"
Yumi was frantic, tears rolling down her face as she babbled at him, "A child... she's dying... again... please, Jungkook-ssi... please help her... like you helped Fluff... use your magic... please... she won't live."
Jungkook was used to verbal vomit from the little vampire but it usually made sense, however he was most confused. "What child? Yumi, calm down."
She grabs his hand and tries to pull him, "Come on! I will show you... please, please help. You are magic aren't you? You made Fluff better."
Jungkook lets Yumi take him to the boundary fence and he's surprised when she moves the fence panel to reveal a child on a sled. "Yumi, where did you find her? Where have you been?"
"I found her weeks ago and took her to Jangmi's house. We've been trying to help her but she's just got worse. Please help her!"
"Let's get her inside." He says, picking up the child and getting her into his house quickly with the little girl in tow.
Jungkook takes her to a small room down some stairs that Yumi hadn't seen before and lays the small girl on a bed. He sees that she's transitioning but doesn't understand why she's not awake. Yumi stands close to the bed.
"Jungkook-ssi, I found her and her family were all dead but she was alive so I took her to Jangmi's. I've been visiting and trying to get her to feed and she did wake up for a while. She has no memories... then she got sick and she wouldn't feed and now she might die again and I think I love her so I don't want her to die. Appa would be angry with me and I didn't know where to go..." she says, wiping her face as she sobs.
"Calm down... How have you been feeding her?"
"I was giving her blood from a rat... I named her Nabi... are you magic, Jungkook-ssi? Can you save her?"
Jungkook had seen a few cases like this over the years but usually the half vampire would be left to perish. He had a feeling that wasn't an option as he looked at the sobbing little vampire standing at the head end of the bed.
"Yumi... she was compelled, that's why she has no memories. There are vampires who play with their food, they compel the humans and they don't expect them to survive. If you wipe someone's memory and they don't know who they are, they tend not to cry and scream and try and fight back or protect each other. But they didn't finish the job with her. I can't get her memories back but I can help her."
"With your magic?"
Jungkook had evaded the question many times before but felt it was unavoidable at this stage. If the past two centuries had created a comfort zone for him, the second he invited Yumi into his garden, that comfort zone had been annihilated.
"Yes, with magic..."
"How are you magic? Are you a real vampire? Are all the original vampires magic?"
"... no, not all of us. My mother was a witch and my father turned her before her five hundred years were up. I was the only one of the four of us that inherited some magic."
"Does my Appa know about your magic?"
"Yes, he does. I think you need to tell him about Nabi."
Yumi's eyes fill again, little pockets of salty water waiting to spill over. "He will be so angry. We don't bite humans because of this."
"Okay, let me save her first."
Yumi sniffles and wipes her nose, "Okay."
The little vampire leaves Nabi at the house castle and heads home. Her father is waiting for her when she arrives and her plan to keep it all in lasts only so long. This was the man who pledged forever to her and had Jungkook not come into their lives, the farmer would be happily single because of her. He'd created the most amazing home for them and was the best father in the whole world. She was riddled with guilt for asking Jungkook to keep a secret and as terrified as she was, she didn't think that she should have dragged the ancient vampire into it when he was trying to court her father.
Tae wasn't used to seeing his daughter with a sad expression. Since she'd started being allowed to visit the house castle and the witch, she'd been a bundle of joy even more than usual. He knew what made her happy, which is why they kept the rabbits and why he compromised every chance he could get so she could live her life. It wasn't easy parenting a child who'd been around for centuries but he thought that he managed and they always made the best of it. He shared Yumi's happiness where Jungkook was concerned and had been in a bit of a romantic fog as of late. When Jungkook turned up at the farm that night, he was swept off of his feet and had continued to be wooed by a man that sounded so old fashioned at times. Every chance that he got, he made a point of placing the old vampire's hands on his skin now that he had got rid of the gloves. Tae's favourite moments were when he kissed the tips of Jungkook's fingers and the ancient man closed his eyes in response. He found such a depth of sensuality in such a basic act that his mind worked overtime imagining how intense the act of love making would be. He'd thought about being intimate with Jungkook a lot. Vampire sex was intensive, the times he'd experienced it were memorable but he didn't have feelings for them.
"Yumi... talk to me... please? What's happened? Are the bunnies okay?"
The little girl looked at her father and seeing the concern etched on his face tips her over the edge. She'd been sitting on a barrel outside, swinging her legs in a bid to distract her thoughts from Nabi but with no luck. As the tears fell, she started by apologising even though she knew her father wouldn't understand and she'd have to explain in detail at some point.
"I-I'm s-sorry... A-Appa... S-s-sorry."
Tae reaches out and hugs his daughter, "Sorry for what? Nothing can be that bad."
"You... w-will be... a-angry..."
The farmer hugs Yumi tighter then pulls back to wipe her face. She looks smaller than usual sitting in front of him in her yellow blouse and jeans. He moves her hair from her face, he thinks she's so innocent in a moment like this and he can't begin to imagine what she could've done to make him angry. He wasn't even angry when she bit the child in the village and he had to compel the little boy to forget the moment and blame a rodent.
"Yumi... I promise not to be angry... tell me what's happened."
"I... I was walking and I found people... they were all dead, Appa... except one... I thought she was dead too but she wasn't... she was like me... I didn't know... I didn't... I couldn't leave her... I could feel she was scared... so... so I took her to Jangmi and... and I tried, Appa... but Nabi was dying and... I took her to Jungkook-ssi ..." Yumi starts to cry again, tears dropping as she finishes her story, "... I'm... I'm sorry, Appa... I asked him not to tell you but it isn't Jungkook-ssi's fault... please don't stop him with the court... it was me and my fault... I... I couldn't let Nabi die again."
Tae wasn't sure if Yumi had finished as it seemed to take her forever to tell him the story so he paused until he was sure. He was touched by the fact that his daughter appeared to be upset that the situation would change his feelings for Jungkook, which wasn't possible and he wanted to address that first.
"This doesn't change anything between me and Jungkook, Yumi. If he has helped you then that is something that makes me happy. I didn't think I would find someone who would step into our lives like he has, okay?"
Yumi nods her head and rubs her face with her hands. "He loves you, Appa."
"Okay... well... so..." There's a part of him that knows he loves the ancient man but holds back at believing that it could be reciprocated, to protect himself. He is sure that his daughter is right though, she had a great track record at being correct over the months that Jungkook had been in their lives but there were other things that needed to be addressed as he continued, "... you know we had the rule about humans BUT I understand why you did what you did. I wouldn't have expected you to leave a child to die, I think I've raised you better than that... where is Nabi now?"
"At the house castle."
"Can Jungkook save her?"
"He's going to try... with his magic... I called her Nabi because she's pretty like a butterfly, Appa."
"What about her real name?"
"She didn't know it. I asked her lots of questions and she didn't remember anything. Then she started to die again and I couldn't wake her up. I was giving her blood from a rat and her fangs were there but she was so weak, Appa."
"She will need human blood to start with. I don't understand why she had no memory?"
"Jungkook-ssi said that the mean vampires made her memory disappear."
"Oh... okay. Are you feeling better now that you've told me?"
"Yes, Appa... I'm sorry."
"Yumi, you haven't done anything wrong. We can go to see Jungkook together, tomorrow... okay?"
"You want to meet Nabi?"
"Absolutely, I do... then we will have to decide what happens next."
Yumi throws her arms around her father who picks her up and squeezes her. He kisses her head and carries her inside. It's late and he had a lot to digest while his daughter gets some sleep ahead of tomorrow.