Beth had a strong sense of Deja Vu as she walked to the kitchen sink and rinsed the knife she had just been using.
Placing it in the dishrack she turned back to the counter and the veggie-filled cutting board. Carefully she picked it up and tipped the colorful mixture into the shepherd's pie filling, mixing them evenly through it before adding the potato topping.
As she did she heard running feet, and she knew before they arrived who it was.
"TICKLE MONSTAAAA!!" a child's voice squealed in delight, and little feet pattered quickly through the kitchen, with TJ and Taehyung, a.k.a. the "tickle monsta" not far behind.
"RRAAAAWR!!" Taehyung bellowed playfully, darting his hands forward to tickle each of them.
Teenage Brandon looked up from his window seat, nonplussed as he watched the trio dart out. Maya entered carrying a baby girl swaddled in an orangey pink blanket.
Beth smiled as Brandon shuffled over and broke his cool demeanor to make faces at his little niece and tickle her belly, eliciting joyous, burbling laughter.
She slid the pie into the oven and retrieved her daughter from Maya.
"Thank you for changing her Maya, but don't you have classes to get to?"
Maya nodded. "Yeah, two. Is there anything I can bring for dinner?"
As Beth turned to the fridge Taehyung came in holding their now exhausted son in one arm and TJ trailing close behind.
"I got it!" He sang out cheerfully, extracting the meal from the fridge and passing it to Maya. He bent over and kissed his baby daughter's forehead as her eyelids fluttered sleepily shut and she cooed at her Daddy.
Beth smiled at them and turned back to Maya "You better get going, that'll be the spaghetti and meatballs from Friday. Pick up more cheddar and..." She paused, thinking. "Oh! Right, eggs. Please get them on your way home."
"Got it, gone!" Maya waved as she sprinted from the kitchen.
The little boy in Taehyungs arms bounced a little. "Wha smells sho good mommy??" he chirped as though he hadn't just worn himself out running from the tickle monster.
"Shepherd's pie." Beth smiled at her son, a little twist of longing in the part of her heart that knew this was a dream.
Brandon interrupted his happy cheers, looking up from his phone with a glint of excitement in his eyes.
"Bernard's coming over and he's bringing his family!"
The evening erupted into a miniature celebration and Beth wanted it to last forever...
But then she was pulled out of the castle and back to the terrifying clearing she was accustomed to and all sense of Deja Vu vanished.
She followed the sound of swords, confused. Taehyung and Bernard had already fought, it was over. So why...
A shrill cackle drew here eyes skywards and she saw a white figure twitching strings attached to her fingers, controlling the figures of Bernard and Taehyung, perfectly timing with the shadow figures twitching fingers, allowing them to believe they were in control.
Then Bernard and Taehyung began redirecting their slashes, cutting away the cords that bound their movements, only for them to re-grow each time they were severed.
The moonlight faded as Beth fell through quicksand without time to take a breath, she choked on the sand as it swallowed her.
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Beth sat bolt upright and blinked, trying to accustom her eyes to the last red rays of sunlight.
Taehyung squeezed her hand.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, he had held her hand the entire time she slept.
"Are you alright?" His concerned voice slipped through her sleepy defenses and she leaned forward to hold onto him, needing an anchor of some sort.
Seeming to understand perfectly, he pulled her head down gently to rest in the crook of his neck and ran his hand lightly down her hair as she allowed a few frightened tears to escape.
"Shhh, it was just a dream." he murmured to her. "We're safe here. Your siblings are safe. Bernard is safe. We're all safe."
Beth found herself trembling as adrenaline once again faded from her system.
Taehyung noticed instantly, pulling her into his lap and cuddling her in his strong arms comfortingly.
"It's alright." he murmured again, sincere words of comfort slipping across his lips easily.
Beth found herself relaxing, enjoying the warmth and comfort of his firm but gentle hold and the resuming rhythm of his hand stroking her hair.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, gentle words and touch soothing away Beth's fears.
When she was calm, she tried to stand up and walk towards her dresser, making it only a few steps before Taehyung pulled her back into his lap.
"Taehyung, I need to get ready." Beth protested.
"We don't have to be there for it to work you know." He spoke softly, although not so quietly as his comforting whispers, referencing the moonlight ceremony Jimin would be conducting with his clan to renew the binding of all vampire's powers. "Besides, some of his clan are really rowdy, I'd rather not have those blood-suckers eyeing my mate." He pouted sulkily.
Beth lightly smacked his bicep and tried to stand again, but this time Taehyung wouldn't even let her get to her feet.
Attempting to keep her with him he nuzzled his lips against her neck lightly.
"You know..." He launched the next part of his defense: distraction.
"Marks are very different in all of the human-written books about my kind. Most of them..." he rubbed the tip of his nose across the side base of her neck. "Say the marking point is right here. But in truth, it can be anywhere." His fingers ran over her side, tracing the mark through her t-shirt. "Most mates start with a mark where others won't normally see it... It's almost like eloping in Human culture."
Beth caught her breath and absorbed the information, the strange tingles of Taehyung's touch against the mark catching her off-guard.
She opened her mouth to speak, only for a shiver from the build-up of tingles to run through her.
"Start with?" She turned to meet his gaze and he smiled, a slight smirk quirking one side of his mouth higher than the other.
"Eventually... When both of a pair are ready, another mark is made where it is more visible to warn off others, to let them know in no uncertain terms that they are willingly claimed." Taehyung's eyes were mischievous.
Beth mulled over the information. "And this is relevant to tonight how?"
Taehyung huffed. "I want to get to know you better before we do that... But I don't want anyone else looking at you either. So the easy solution is to just stay in and let Jimin handle the ceremony like he suggested."
Beth recalled the discussion they'd had earlier about that very thing.
At the time, she and Taehyung had both, very solidly agreed to come, despite Jimin trying to convince them to relax and let him do the work this time. As though rescuing Bernard hadn't been dangerous at all.
"Alright. But we'll have to let Jimin know, and someone needs to take care of Bernard so we can't sit here the whole time either."
Taehyung agreed to the compromise easily, and when they stood up he took Beth's hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm to escort her downstairs as though they were going to a ball rather than the kitchen.
Jimin smiled brightly at them as Taehyung informed him of the change in plans, his eyes disappearing to form little down-turned crescents so small Beth was impressed he could still navigate as well as he did.
They checked on Bernard and found he was already up and about, getting ready to go outside and watch the ceremony.
The glint of surprise in Taehyung's eyes proved to Beth that he had not known, and a mischievous giggle reached her ears from somewhere nearby.
Jimin.
The little sneak had contrived for she and Taehyung to be left alone once again.
So they went to the kitchen and started chatting about all of the simple, mundane things they didn't know.
"What's your favorite color?" She asked Taehyung, and he smiled brightly as he handed her an ingredient.
"Purple! What's yours?" he asked cheerfully.
Without hesitation she answered "Amber-green."
Taehyung's eyes lit up with understanding and childish joy. "You mean like my wolf eyes?"
Beth smiled and nodded shyly.
Taehyung cooed at her slight blush and asked another question.
"What's your favorite food?" he smiled cheekily as Beth considered.
"Hmmm, pizza. Or stuffed baked potatoes. Or maybe ice cream... Of course, sushi is good too. Oooh, no, pineapple!! Definitely pineapple."
Taehyung grinned. "Like this?" He pulled out the can he had handed her on that first meeting in the parking lot.
Sure enough, it was pineapple.
Beth laughed. "Yes!"
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Hello readers! I updated before dinner! I'm so proud of me :')
I hope you enjoyed this chapter because things are about to get crazy again!
Can I get a.... hmmm... Oh a *fist bump* ! Right here please UwU