"Does it hurt?" Jennie asked quietly as she poked Chaeyoung's fangs with her finger, "when your teeth change, does it hurt?". "A bit" the Australian replied, "it certainly isn't pleasant. But the lack of breathing and the still heart is the worst". Jennie raised an eyebrow, "but your brain still works even though there's no human blood being pumped to it, vampire biology is so weird". Rosé nodded slightly, "yeah, I'm no less confused about it even though I am one". The Aussie looked at her feet and sighed, "I don't think I'm a very good vampire, not a good slayer either". The elder girl placed a comforting arm around her best friend, "you're a good person, and that's the most important thing you can be". Chaeyoung smiled for the first time in a while.
"Where's Lisa?" Jennie asked as she left her best friend to sleep for a while. Seulgi shrugged, "with Sunmi I think, she was in the cage last time I saw her". Jennie clenched her fists a little, Sunmi annoyed her, like a pest she can't get rid of.
"I don't want to know what they're doing" she whispered under her breath, which was a lie. The slayer casually strolled across the room so she could see inside the cage without making it obvious. Sunmi's fangs were penetrating Lisa's neck deeply as the starving vampire practically devoured her sire.
If it wasn't Lisa she fed on it would have to be a human, which was not an option. Jennie knew this yet couldn't stop the jealousy rising up from her stomach like bile. Never had the New Zealander desired to punch a vampire more than she did right now, quite the achievement for a professional vampire slayer.
Loud clattering sounds from the corner distracted Jennie from any plans of staking Sunmi. Before the young woman even had time to question what caused the noise her students started arguing with each other. "Of course" she muttered to herself before heading over to the bickering trio.
"What is going on?" she asked impatiently.
"Nayeon is a dumbass, that's what's going on" Jihyo huffed as Jennie helped her up off of the floor. "Hey it's not my fault! Sana missed her mark" the elder replied in an annoyed tone. Sana, who had crashed into a pile of boxes, dusted herself off and scowled at Nayeon. "What are you doing" Jennie asked sternly, not in the mood for their nonsense. "A routine" Jihyo replied as she tied her brown hair up in a ponytail.
Before Jennie could could say anything more the three girls assumed their fighting stances and again attempted whatever it was they were doing. The New Zealander's eyes widened in bewilderment as she watched her students trying to perform a series of high kicks, mid range punches and low leg sweeps. The slayer assumed these moves were supposed to be in sync and in some parts they were.
"We are going to use this on vampires!" Nayeon said excitedly. "They're not ready" Jennie sighed quietly as she watched. Despite the trio's best efforts they looked like toddlers at their first karate lesson, more of a badly coordinated dance routine than a combat manoeuvre.
"You've made some...interesting friends" Chaeyoung said as she appeared suddenly behind the slayer, making the shorter girl jump a little. Jennie smiled slightly, "my students from school and now I'm training them to fight but-". "They're just enthusiastic civilians" the Aussie added. The black haired girl nodded, "exactly. They mean well and they work hard but I can't stop Sandara with enthusiasm. I need slayers, and they just aren't improving quick enough". The taller girl placed her hand on Jennie's back, "give them time, we had to train for years before we were ready to undertake missions. Not to mention all the icky vampire blood hidden in our supplements". "I guess you're right" the elder responded with another sigh.
"Why aren't you resting?" she asked with concern. Chaeng sighed, "hard to sleep with girls crashing through boxes every few minutes".
"And who are they?" Rosé asked as she pointed towards the two women alone in the corner, "one of them smells funny". Jennie smiled, "the one with dark hair is Seulgi, the other is Wendy. They are girlfriends". The best friends began to walk across the warehouse, "Seulgi is a werewolf, that's probably why she smells different" the slayer added. "A werewolf?" the Australian said as she stopped walking, "a werewolf, as in...". The slayer nodded "yep as in full moon furriness".
Chaeyoung starred blankly at her friend for a moment as she tried to process the information, "I'm going back to bed" she said finally. Even for a vampire this was all a bit much. Still, Jennie couldn't help but giggle.
"Have you seen Mina?" Lisa asked as she emerged from the cage, approaching the shorter girl. Jennie shook her head, "no". "Odd" the Thai replied, "I can't sense her, she must be masking her energy", the vampire grimaced in pain as the bite wounds in her neck stung. "Are you ok?" the slayer asked. Lisa nodded, "yeah I'm fine, Sunmi went a bit too deep that's all". Jennie knew that the vampire was referring to her neck but the word choice pissed her off regardless.
"I'll go out and look for Mina" the slayer said coldly. "I'll come with you" the redhead replied though she was considerably weakened after being drained by her charge. "No" Jennie exclaimed, "you stay with Sunmi where you're needed".
Lisa watched Jennie walk away with a look of confusion on her face, she couldn't work the dark haired girl out. One minute Jennie was rejecting her and the next she was being jealous and petty. "Ok I'll catch you later then I guess..." she did not receive a response.
Jennie marched angrily outside, mumbling to herself as she paced in the snow.
"Is there a reason you're disturbing me?"
Jennie looked up from the ground to see Mina sitting cross-legged on large tree stump, eyes closed. "I'm sorry" the slayer replied, "Lisa was looking for you, but said something about masking your energy?". "That's right" the Japanese girl responded, "I need to mediate and channel my power after depleting much of it during the soul conjuring. The procedure creates a lot of 'supernatural noise' so to speak to I'm masking my energy so that I don't expose our presence to other vampires". The vampire still had her eyes closed, "is that all?" she said coldly.
"Is there a problem between us?" Jennie asked, sensing the clear hostility coming from Mina, "did I give you too much homework at school or something" she added with jest, attempting to lighten the mood. The vampire sighed with impatience as she opened her eyes, "as I seem to recall Miss Kim, you didn't pay much attention to anything other than Lisa's rather obvious displays of flirtation". The slayer frowned slightly, "is there a reason you don't like me?". Mina smiled, "shall we gain a little perspective perhaps? I hardly think that in the dire situation you are in right now, that such a trivial subject as popularity should be in your interests".
Jennie turned around and began to walk away.
"But for what it is worth" the Japanese girl continued, "I don't dislike you. Not in the way you mean anyway". The slayer turned back and approached the vampire again, "but there is a problem?" she said with a raised eyebrow. "I simply don't trust you" Mina replied. Jennie found that rich, Mina was the demon here after all, "why don't you trust me?". The vampire held two fingers up, "for a couple of reasons" she replied, "the first being the prophesy". "Prophesy?" the younger questioned. "Lisa's prophesy" Mina continued, "it has been written for centuries that an ensouled vampire would save the world from the coming darkness. All the signs point towards that vampire being your ex girlfriend. The prophets left a warning however, that the ensouled's love for another would lead her away from her destiny. The translations are clear that the other person is a woman".
The slayer shook her head a little in disbelief, "and you think that's me? You think I'm going to lead Lisa astray?". Mina nodded, "without intervention yes". Jennie let out a short ironic laugh, "well you're in luck, me and Lis aren't together anymore". "I never said that you would lead Lisa away from her destiny on purpose" the vampire replied, "so your breakup doesn't do much to alleviate my concerns. Lisa almost died in returning her Chaeyoung's soul. Why do you think she would take such a risk for someone she barely knows?".
Jennie's eyes widened as her heart began to ache, "she...did that for me?". "Of course" the vampire replied, "She got her own soul for you, saved Chaeyoung for you. Lisa has the fate of the world resting on her shoulders yet you are the only thing she thinks about".
Sunmi feeding from Lisa didn't seem such a big deal anymore.
"You said there was two reasons" the New Zealander stated, not wanting to dwell too much on what she was feeling about the Thai, "what is the second?".
Mina smiled, "you give off bad vibes, Jennie".
"What do you mean?"
"You're at odds with yourself. I know a dark aura when I sense one, you disguise it well but it's there. Not evil, but disturbed. It makes me feel uneasy so yes, I don't trust you. But that shouldn't come as a surprise to you, I don't believe you trust yourself either".
"Jeez does every vampire have to train to become a fucking psychologist" Jennie grumbled to herself as she walked back towards the warehouse, troubled by how easily Namjoon and now Mina had seen right through her.
A thick stream of blood poured down a beaten and bruised body, trickling gently down bare feet and dripping onto a cold stone floor. The droplets making soft pattering sounds as they fell from the body that was suspended in the air. Clinking of steel echoed a little in the dark cold room followed by a small gasp of pain and fear as the victim regained consciousness, hanging from a ceiling by the wrists in rusted old chains. The victim's vision was severely blurred after considerable blood loss and heavy blows to the head, she could however make out a shape in front of her. A person. Pale skin and blonde hair.
"At last she awakes" Dara said in a cheery tone of voice, "I was starting to worry that you weren't going to".
The vampire Queen wrapped her hand around CL's face, squeezing the Captain's cheeks from either side. "Hello, Rin-Rin? Chaelin-aaah?" Sandara sighed, "it's rude to ignore people you know, especially when they invite you into their home". The disorientated slayer remained silent, in far too much pain to talk. "Hm" Dara gently pushed CL's body causing her to swing back and forth on the chains, "you were a lot more vocal yesterday when I was wriggling my finger around in your eye socket. Maybe I should try that again? I might even reach your brain this time".
"NO!" CL exclaimed with a weak and gravelled voice.
Dara smiled sinisterly, "I'm sorry Chaelin I didn't quite catch that".
"No, please no" the slayer repeated in barely a whisper though Dara could hear her perfectly.
"Nope sorry I can't hear you" the vampire taunted as she raised her index finger in front of CL's exposed eye socket, her eye patch had been torn off hours ago.
"Plea-" she gasped.
Chaelin's weak voice turned into loud agonising screams as the vampire Queen forced her finger inside the front on the slayer's skull.
"Can't sleep?" Wendy asked as she sat beside Jennie in the far end of the warehouse, handing her some tea. Jennie smiled, "not really no, I feel like I have more thoughts than brain cells right now". The Canadian took a sip out of her cup, "would any of those thoughts include a certain Thai by any chance?".
"Am I that obvious?"
Wendy laughed a little, "you do look at her a lot".
Jennie blushed with embarrassment.
"She looks at you too" the Canadian added.
The slayer blushed harder, butterflies swirling around her stomach while she took a sip of tea in attempt to disguise her smile.
Wendy wasn't fooled however, "remind me again why you too aren't together?" she said sarcastically.
"I'm going to lead her away from her destiny" Jennie replied, suddenly getting serious. Wendy was confused. The slayer sighed deeply, "the universe is basically telling me to stay away from her, that we aren't meant to be together..."
"But?" Seungwan asked.
"But" Jennie continued, "there's something connecting us together, constantly drawing me towards her and it isn't just love. When she hurts I feel it, I know she's there before I even see her".
"Maybe you are meant to be" the Canadian replied, "just not yet".
"The ancient prophesy doesn't seem to agree" Jennie said with a sad sigh.
Wendy drank from her cup and shrugged, "I don't care much for prophets personally, they tend to be more interested in the self and less in the divine".
The black haired girl looked at her friend inquisitively, "you think it could be wrong?". Seungwan leaned back against the wall as she shuffled a little closer to Jennie to get comfortable, "I think that we don't know who writes these prophesies and what their intentions are. History is full of men who have insisted that people do what they say because their word is that of God without ever being able to provide any proof. How much faith can you really put into people like that?".
"I enjoy our talks" Jennie said, breaking the silence after a few minutes, "it's nice to hear voices of reason". "Me too" Wendy replied, "but it's not the only reason I came over". "Oh?" the slayer asked. "There will be another full moon soon" the brown haired girl continued, "we're going to need the cage".
"Ah I see" the slayer said as she looked at over at all four vampires sitting together in the cage, Sunmi and Lisa closer than the New Zealander was comfortable with. Wendy sighed, "that means momentarily freeing Sunmi...". Jennie shrugged her shoulders, "I figured we could just leave her in there. Seulgi might enjoy a new chew toy". The two women looked at each briefly before laughing. Jennie chuckled as she brushed her hair back with her hand, "we have three ensouled vampires who are very unlikely to allow Sunmi to run off or hurt anyone so I think we'll be ok but just in case we'll keep rotate people to stay awake for a while and keep an eye on her". Wendy nodded, "good idea, and thank you Jen. I know you have enough problems without me and Seulgz adding to them. We both really appreciate everything you're doing for us".
Jennie had sat talking with Wendy for a few hours, had even been joined by Seulgi for a while but the slayer's attention had been taken by the vampires in the cage. The four of them had sat on the floor in a square, holding hands with their eyes closed. They hadn't moved in at least an hour and a half.
"What are they doing?" Jennie said quietly as she approached Sana, Nayeon and Jihyo. "Vampire stuff" Nayeon replied with a small shrug. The slayer looked at her student with mild annoyance, "thank you Professor".
Jennie frowned as she watched her best friend take part in whatever ritual they were doing, she knew she'd have to get used to the fact that Rosé was a vampire now but the slayer was hoping her friend would want to distance herself from her demonic side now that she had her soul back. Chaeyoung cried at sad movies, flirted badly with cute girls on social media and drank milkshakes through the swirly straws children have, she didn't do whatever this was.
"How do you feel now?" Lisa asked after the four vampires finally stopped their shared power channelling. "Stronger" Rosé replied with surprise in her voice, in the short time she had spent with Lisa and Mina she had learned more about being a vampire than she ever did with Jisoo. Lisa was teaching her the things a sire was supposed to be teaching. Still, she and Lisa sharing the same sire gave the Australian some comfort. The Thai smiled softly, "an addition to the added strength you should find a natural improvement in understanding and controlling your demonic powers.
Rosé had a sad expression on her face, "can I ask you something? You seem like the best person to gain insight". Lisa nodded, "sure go ahead". "Do you think she ever really wanted to sire me in the first place?" the Australian asked with clear vulnerability, "I mean the slayer in me knows I shouldn't care and should hate her for killing me but I can't help but feel rejected". "I understand"the redhead responded, "my feelings for Jisoo are conflicted too. On one hand she killed me, my entire family and made me do terrible things but...I love her, you know?".
Lisa placed a comforting arm across the younger vampire's shoulders, "I don't know if this makes you feel better or worse but she was planning on siring you before she knew you were a slayer. I was not keen on the idea". Rosé smiled, "why not?". Lisa, realising her own immaturity smiled too, "because you're gorgeous and new and I wanted all the attention". The Australian hid behind her hands as she giggled, she knew how pretty she was but Lisa had a skill for making girls shy.
Chaeyoung leaned her head against Lisa's shoulder as the two ensouled vampires laughed and talked. Bonding came very naturally between the two of them, as well as the bloodline connection their personalities complimented each other.
This growing friendship had not gone unnoticed.
"Oh come on!" Jennie exclaimed under her breath as she witnessed her ex and her best friend getting cosy, "I know I have messed up a lot lately but give me a fucking break" she said towards the sky as though she was talking to some divine entity.
The slayer didn't want to get jealous, she already felt enough of that thanks to Sunmi but she couldn't help but feel a little deflated at the sight of the two girls getting close. They both had in each other something she couldn't give to either of them. Yet still Jennie found herself smiling, it was nice seeing them both laughing again.
"THERE'S SOMEONE OUTSIDE!" Sana squealed as she came running across the warehouse from outside, followed by Seulgi. "What?"Jennie asked with concern as she reached for a weapon. "There's someone heading towards us" Seulgi confirmed calmly but with worry, "a woman, she appears to be alone".
Jennie grabbed a sword from one of the tables with her students all following suit. Seulgi stood protectively besides Wendy. The vampires all readied themselves to fight, except for Sunmi who remained seated and frankly didn't give a fuck.
"Is it Sandara?" Jennie asked. Lisa shook her head, "unlikely, she'd send someone else".
The girls, sans Sunmi, all prepared themselves.
There was a firm knock on the warehouse door.
"What kind of a baddie knocks?" Jihyo said with a raised brow.
"The kind that needs an invite to come in" Lisa replied.
Mina shook her head slowly, "in a public abandoned building? She can walk right in".
"Ok so she's polite" Lisa said as she shrugged.
"Hello?" a voice said from the other side of the door, "Lisa?"
"Oh what have you done now" Mina sighed. Lisa looked just as puzzled as everyone else, "nothing!".
Jennie's eyes widened, as did Rosé's, "wait I know that voice".
The two best friends ran towards the door as they realised who it was.
The woman staggered back in surprise, "J-Jennie?!". "Tiffany unnie" the New Zealander said with tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around the former slayer Captain. The eldest slayer's surprised yet happy smile soon fell from her face after her gaze fell on the Australian standing behind Jennie.
Tiffany immediately pulled a stake from the holster around her waste and lunged towards the vampire.
"No wait!" Jennie yelled as she attempted to get between the two women, "she has a soul!".
Tiffany paused, she hadn't been sure if she believed in redeemed vampires and certainly didn't trust Lisa but she knows Rosé, loves her even, "a soul...". The startled Australian nodded slowly. Jennie slowly approached the former captain and carefully removed the stake from her hand, "that's our Rosie in there I promise".
The elder was unsure and filled with a lot of conflicting emotions but in the event that Jennie was telling the truth, she decided not to stake the vampire. "It doesn't matter anyway" Tiffany said calmly, "it's her I came to see" she added as she gestured towards the Thai near the cage.
"Come to pay me the rest of my fee?" Lisa replied sarcastically.
"I have it" Tiffany threw the rest of the money and some packs of animal blood on the floor in front of the redhead, "but that's not why I'm here, we have a bigger problem than the forest". The slayer walked by Chaeyoung and Jennie, coldly ignoring them both.
"We?" the vampire responded.
Tiffany nodded, "your Queen. An inside source at the Order says that Sandara's clan massacred an entire unit of slayers except for one. And worse still, she has CL". "Captain Lee?" Jennie asked. "Yes" the elder replied.
"Shit..." Lisa mumbled as she sighed deeply. Rosé sat down and buried her head in her hands, "all those poor girls, dead". "They got off lightly" the Thai responded.
Tiffany threw herself towards the redheaded vampire, grabbing the collar of her shirt and pinning her roughly against the cage wall, "those were young girls who've had their lives taken away!" she spat angrily. Lisa growled demonically, "trust me, what Dara is doing to your captain is worse" she grabbed Tiffany's wrists and pulled them off her collar, pushing the slayer backwards harshly.
"Everyone please calm down" Jennie intervened. Tiffany sighed with annoyance but ultimately decided that punching Lisa in the face would not be productive, after all she needed the Thai on board, "are you going to help me or not?" she asked calmly. Lisa looked at the ground sadly, "I'm not sure I can". Investigating disappearances and not feeding from humans anymore was one thing, but turning against her Queen? The Thai wasn't sure she could do that.
"I need your help" the former captain pleaded, "you're the only one who knows her, her clan. I can't do this without you". "Do what exactly?" Jennie asked.
"Rescue Chaelin"
Lisa shook her head, "Dara will be expecting a rescue attempt, it'll be why she's taken her in the first place". "No" Tiffany argued, "she is expecting the Order, not us. Especially not you, she thinks you're dead or in the Order's captivity".
"We'll help" the New Zealander added, not liking the thought of her captain and ex girlfriend taking on Dara's clan alone.
The elder slayer smiled, "thank you, I'll need it".
"So what's the plan?" Rosé asked as her slayer instincts kicked in.
Lisa tapped her fingers against her other hand as she thought about the best course of action, "if the Order launch a rescue mission then Dara will use CL to lure them in and then kill them all, including CL anyway". Jennie nodded, "so we need to get in and out again before the Order do anything". Chaeyoung folder her arms, "so we'll need to be quick, we can't sit on this for too long".
"Tomorrow night" Tiffany said suddenly, "when the sun goes down we'll head back into town and Lisa can guide us to Sandara and Captain Lee".
"Tomorrow night".