"In here we should find answers. I believe I had a map lying around somewhere."
Namjoon glanced over his shoulder to look at the three, all had curious expressions on their faces. Especially Eunha and Jimin were surprised by all the beautiful rooms the mansion had, never having seen such breath-taking extravagance.
"The library, of course." Taehyung agreed. The house was familiar to him as he himself had lived here for three years after he met Namjoon. Everything looked the same as he remembered, which surprised him slightly; he had only been ten when he moved here.
Eunha opened her mouth to ask them what kind of map they were talking about, yet nothing but a with wonder-filled breath left her pink lips.
Namjoon had pushed open two huge mahogany doors, allowing them to relish on the mind-blowing view of the spacious library.
The girl's heart seemed to skip a beat as she took a step into literal heaven for her book-loving self. "Wow."
A proud smirk grew on Namjoon's face as he as well admired the collection he had consistently gathered throughout his life. "It took me a long time, but here we are. Welcome in my personal library, you can grab some books if you want to, just make sure you put them back in the correct place after."
Jimin's shoes squeaked on the black glossy marble tiles, white scribbles causing a fancy looking marble effect on the floor. This room alone must have cost a fortune. The space was filled with huge shelves made of a shiny wood, black as well. The shelves were mounted with books, piling up with such a big amount that they reached the ceiling.
At the corner of almost every isle stood a comfy leather seat, inviting them to sit down and drown themselves in the many stories waiting to be enjoyed. And to be honest, that was all Eunha wanted. To let go of all the hardships in life, forget all her worries, and just dream away with a nice book on her lap, hands wrapped around a too big mug of steaming tea.
The short girl calmly walked towards a random shelf, passing a statue of a naked woman in process. Her eyes quickly admired the beautiful work, smile decorating her face as she turned her focus on some random books.
"That's a nice sculpture you got there." Jimin stated casually as he observed the polished lady in front of him. The figure arched her back, breasts perking forwards, butt sticking out temptingly. Her head tilted backwards slightly as her hands waved through her luscious hair. Her features were like a goddess, though the fold of skin by her waist, the two dips on her lower back, and the perfectly noticeable stretch-marks decorating her thighs and hips made her much more human. The fragile realism made the statue all the way prettier.
"The beauty of a supposedly ordinary woman. They are all perfect to me, though they don't seem to notice that. The same goes for men. I've got statues of all genders placed around the mansion, they add in a lot of ambience."
The three males followed the youngest into a random isle, their conversation about the statues falling still as all seemed to agree with each other.
Eunha mindlessly grabbed a book from the shelf in front of her, flipping to the first page as she was still in awe by the fact that there was a whole library in this mansion. It was a lot more clearer how the vampire had gotten so smart.
"Yeah, you don't really need that one right now. If you ever want to lend it though, just let me know." The girl looked up in surprise as Namjoon swiftly grabbed the book from her hands, putting it back in its rightful place.
A cute laugh from Jimin made her turn around in confusion, why was he so amused?
When said boy noticed her confused look, his laugh turned into a playful grin as he pointed at something on the cover of the book she had been holding.
21+ rated-r
Immediately a fiery blush appeared on her cheeks as she realized she had been trying to read an erotic novel.
Without saying another word, Eunha turned around and walked away from the shelf with the pornographic volumes, hoping to find a bible or something, while the guys laughed at her reaction.
Just her luck, eh.
The embarrassed girl cleared her throat, "So, what was that map you were talking about?"
"Right, it should be somewhere in this isle." Namjoon nodded his head, circling around some shelves with ease. The three followed, eyes widening as they saw the long isle in front of them.
"It's a map for the east-side of this land. See, my idea was to pay a visit to the soul-keepers. They hold track of every single soul, both dead and alive. They will be able to locate both your mother and the kidnapper. It will give us an advantage to prepare for battle."
Eunha stared at him in awe for his plan, how had she not thought of that?
The soul-keepers were mostly known under the name the Death or the undertaker, though they were actually guardians of both life and death.
They made sure that no one's impulsive decision changed the fate meant for them or others.
Now they were no protectors like angels who actually tried to make people's life go smoothly and positively as possible to keep them from evil, but they rather interfered when someone's end neared too soon. And of course they also had the job of guiding deceased souls to their next destination. Everyone was bound to meet a soul-keeper once in their life, apart from immortals that was. Eunha would have never thought that she would voluntarily pay a visit to them before dying, but she would never have guessed to team up with a sarcastic yet charming elf, a dangerously enchanting demon, and an intimidatingly genius of a good-looking vampire either.
"We are going to pay a visit to death before it finds us? Really?" Jimin commented, not liking the idea at all.
"Scaredy-cat is right, those creatures are on another level, I don't want to cross paths with them again."
Both Eunha and Jimin looked at him in surprise, "Again?!"
Taehyung casually shrugged his shoulders, "I might have met one when I tried to bring misery upon a group of filthy humans."
"Misery as in you tried to kill them." Namjoon stated while Eunha just glared at him feeling offended.
"Sorry princess, forgot you are a human as well. You're rather likeable, you know?" A boxy smile was thrown her way before the man focused on the vampire, "Anyways, yeah kind off, they were haunting a boy who had escaped from their hands, the anger and despair lured me in, though their violence was truly sickening. They pissed me of by ignoring me."
Eunha frowned in distaste. She knew that there were bad figures out there, gangs of people who kidnapped and ambushed for money. Still it saddened her. A pain shot through her chest as she remembered her brother, Jaehyun; she had lost him to those kind of people.
Taehyung glanced at her with an unreadable expression on his face, but continued his story nevertheless.
"Before I could send my shadow wolves onto them, a soul-keeper stepped in my way. The freezing cold that rushed through my body when he paralyzed me, I don't really want to feel that again, but hey, if you guys are up for the experience then why not."
"What do they look like?" Eunha had read about the creatures before, about them being so empathetic that one shared glance could make them burst into tears and lose it from laughing at the same time. That's why they usually covered their body in a black cloak. When they were not wearing those, it was rumoured they numbed their emotions with their powers, making them blank-faced.
"I don't know. This person was about the same height as I, but he kept himself covered with his cloak. I'm not sure if they all look the same though, besides, shared features don't always pass through. Look at him for example, elves are supposed to be tall, that clearly didn't happen."
The demon was met with a sharp glare and an angry shout as Jimin chucked a book towards his head.
Namjoon suddenly appeared between the two, hand stretched out to catch the book. This, to Eunha's amusement, didn't go as planned as the vampire somehow managed to give a spin to the thrown book before it slammed straight in Taehyung's face.
The demon grunted in pain, while the elf let out a satisfied laugh.
Namjoon bend down, his foot accidentally standing on one of the pages when he picked up the book, tearing the fragile paper in process.
"I forgot how clumsy you are. If the four of us have to move all the way east there is the possibility that the soul-keepers come to find us first when Joonie accidentally kills one of us."
"At least that would make our journey shorter." Jimin stated, shrugging his shoulders innocently.
Namjoon let out a sigh, putting the book on a random table. He ignored the boys' comments and took three steps to his left. His index finger rested gently against his full lips as his eyes analyzed the different titles in front of him. When his eyes stopped at a particular book somewhere high on a shelf, his lips stretched into a small smile, dimples on full display.
He reached for the old-looking thing, skipping to one of the last few pages and grabbing a folded piece of paper out of it.
The vampire walked back towards the table at the beginning of the isle, and opened the map on it.
The paper had turned yellow through time, the fold-lines almost tearing in the middle. Nevertheless it's fragile state, the drawings on the map were clear.
"We are here right now," he pointed at a little red cross drawn on the map, high up in the dark forest. "This is where we can find the soul-keepers. According to this map it will take us five days to get there."
"Five days? We do not have enough food for that, we literally ran out on the way here." Eunha mumbled, finger tapping on her chin as she tried to think of a solution.
"Clothes as well, we have been walking around in these for way too long already." Jimin added, while Eunha had taken two pairs of clothing with her that she switched between, the elf had nothing but jeans, t-shirt and jacket he was wearing the day they met.
"I can fix that. I'll grab some of my clothes for you to wear, meanwhile you can go and take a bath. The clothing you're wearing right now can go in the washing machine so that it's fresh for on the go." Namjoon offered, eyes observing the slightly dirty trio who had been walking for a long time.
"About food, what you just ate was all I had laying around, but there's a little town nearby. It's on or route, so we will just stop there to buy whatever you need and then proceed east."
"Sounds good to me." Taehyung answered, not really caring about the food as he did not live off of it.
"Then that is settled?" Namjoon glanced at Eunha questionably. He was used to taking the lead, but also realized that the girl had the last say in this. It was her mother.
Eunha nodded her head, "Sounds perfect. I could use a bath and a good night of sleep, you too Jimin."
The elf looked at her feeling offended, "Did you just subtly tell me that I stink?"
Eunha innocently shrugged, "If that's what you got out of that, then it must have been your subconscious mind telling you something."
"And if not, then I will tell you, scaredy-cat. You stink. Go take a bath." Taehyung spoke calmly, their interaction seemed to amuse both the demon and the vampire.
After seeing the self-conscious look cross Jimin's face as he sniffed his shirt, the girl slightly frowned her eyebrows, slapping the demon's arm. "I was only joking, Jimin, you don't smell bad at all. Don't worry." She grinned at him playfully, eyes glistening in mischief.
"I wasn't- ouch! Stop slapping me, you little-"
Eunha managed to silence the demon with a glare that looked more cute than threatening.
"I'll show you to the guest rooms then. Let's quickly go to sleep as we have a very long couple of days ahead." Namjoon uncrossed his arms that were casually resting against his chest, standing up straight and guiding the others through his house.
On the way he gave them a little tour, showing them different rooms while talking some facts about the things they saw. Eunha was left in absolute awe. She felt like she was walking around a castle. She had never seen such luxury, it made her wonder if her family would have been different if they were this rich.
"The pink guest room for you, baby girl." The four stepped into a big room. The floor was a light wood, a huge pastel pink fluffy carpet laying in the middle of it. The four walls were painted a same shade of pink, while the curtains were a soft, very light yellow. The pastels went together perfectly, especially with the white furniture.
The room itself reminded her of a sweet, which she quite enjoyed.
"It's really pretty." Eunha mumbled taking a few steps into the room. It wasn't that she was crazy with the colour pink, but the room was styled perfectly. There were even some plants and greens added to the room as to make it appear earthy as well.
Namjoon hummed in agreement before pointing towards a door, "There's the bathroom. There are towels in the cabinet bellow the mirror," The man turned around, ushering the other males out of the room while following them. "I'll show these to their rooms and then grab some clothes for you to wear. I'll put them on the bed, okay?"
Eunha nodded her head, only letting out a contented sigh as the door closed shut. She glanced around the room again, noticing the cute pillows, tempting bed, the adorable vintage white makeup dresser, the night lamp that had little clouds on them and of course, the ceiling.
Here as well was the ceiling decorated with beautiful paintings. The girl twirled around a couple of times before softly sitting down on the bed, glancing up at the artwork.
The background was a light blue, white clouds floating here and there to fake the image of the sky. Around the edges, she spotted all kind of creatures: a beautiful elf-lady with her pointy ears and smooth hair, a mermaid-man that splashed his fin in some water, a demon and an angel on opposite sides, their wings stretching proudly behind them, a vampire showing off his pointy teeth, an adorable witch glowing in the green light that emerged from her cauldron, a dwarf, a giant and much more. In the very center of the ceiling was a single cloud, slightly more pink than the others. Little fairies were floating and laying around it. Flowers popping up in between them to give the painting more colour. It seemed this room was inspired by the fairies.
She wondered if the other rooms had the same kind of painting, only the center and thus the look of the room being something different.
After admiring the work for a bit, Eunha made her way to the bathroom, another gasp leaving her lips as this seemed like a whole other realm. The walls were painted a light purple and white. Vines and pretty purple and light blue flowers hung from the ceiling, making it appear as if she was in a magical forest. The bath was a matte white, feet curling up fancily. The room was decorated with different kind of candles and even without them being lit, Eunha could smell the vanilla in the air.
The girl shook her head to awake from her dream-like daze. She turned around and locked the bathroom door; they could probably still burst through the door, but she felt more secure like that. At least she wouldn't be the one inviting them in.
In the cabinet bellow the sink, she grabbed a huge white towel, noticing how there was soap and shampoo standing close to the bath already. She quickly filled the tub, taking off her clothes carefully before stepping into the warm water.
The temperature did her good as she felt her aching muscles relax slightly. Though the warmth made her sleepy as well.
After ten minutes or so, Eunha stepped out of the bathtub again, drying herself as best as she could before wrapping the huge thing around her tiny figure. She unlocked the door, carefully sticking her head around the corner, big eyes watching if the coast was clear.
When detecting no one but a new pair of clothing on the bed, she walked into the room, bare foot tapping along the cold wooden floor.
On the silky sheets of the bed lay a very big and long black shirt. Eunha could already tell that it would be like a dress on her, so she worried not before quickly putting it on, despising the cold air on her naked skin.
She had been right, the fabric stopped by her knees, the sleeves of the arms way too long and the neckline kind of wide. Still, a delightful smile spread on her face. She felt clean, comfy and sleepy. She quickly gathered her worn clothes in a bundle, putting them in the basket outside the door just like Namjoon had told them to so that he could put them in the washing machine for them.
Eunha would have offered to do it herself, but she had never seen a washing machine before. She always did it with the hand, but the vampire had explained to her how the machine would be quicker and more thorough.
Who was she to object to someone offering to do her chores.
After leaving her clothes outside, the girl turned off the big lights in her room, before waddling to the comfy bed. She threw open the sheets, crawling deep under the covers as a yawn escaped her lips.
It had been a tiring day and she knew there would be many more. But at least, in five days time, she would know where her mother was. She only hoped that she was being quick enough, for she couldn't go any faster.