Update like I promised! idk how you're going to feel about this...
XXXII: Taehyung
Mark him.
Jungkook was dying. My soulmate was dying in the room right before me, and the only remote chance he had of reviving was from my mark. It felt like a sudden lead weight was dropped on my shoulders, crushing me whole.
I had always thought that when I marked my soulmate, it would be a romantic moment. Soft candlelight, silk sheets, maybe even some rose petals carpeting the floor. We would entwine our hearts together, and I would finally be able to turn him into a vampire so he could spend all of eternity with me. I never thought that I would have to do it when he was half dead from poison, and crying out in pain. As a desperate act to try and save his life.
"Do you think he'll be able to take it?" Lisa asks, squeezing my hand when she saw how white my face had become.
Jin hesitates. "I held off on the option of marking him at first, because it's such a risky business. To turn someone into a vampire, you have to inject toxins into the body to kill off the human part, and some don't even survive the process. But with Jungkook, the risks are even higher. His body is already weak from the poison. Very weak, actually. The chances that he'll survive..." Jin doesn't finish his sentence. He doesn't have to. The full impact of his words sink in, and I feel like someone's punched me full-force in the stomach.
"The poison's already coursing through his body alarmingly fast. At this rate, it will be a miracle if he can last till morning." Jin says, and Lisa gasps, covering her mouth. I feel like I'm choking on air, barely being able to suck in a breath. The bite of food I had eaten before now makes me feel sick.
"But how was he―" The answer dawns on me before Jin can say, and I curl my hands into fists, feeling rage build up inside of me like burning hot magma. There was only one way that he could have possibly been poisoned. "The dagger. The dagger Lucius cut him with was laced with poison, wasn't it?" Jin nods gravely, and my mind seems to go white with rage.
"Damn it!"
My fist comes striking down on a nearby table, and Jin and Lisa both flinch as the table breaks in half and crashes to the floor. "I'll kill him," I growl, hands shaking. "I'll resurrect him from the deepest pits of hell and skewer him with a blunt knife over and over until he dies in agony. Then I'll revive him again and do it all over. If Jungkook dies, so will he."
"Tae..." Jin tries to put a hand on my arm but I wave him away. He backs away quickly when he sees the murder in my eyes, apparently not wanting to meet the same end as the table.
"What is the poison?" I ask, a vile taste blooming in my mouth.
"It's ricin." Jin says. "It takes about three days to fully consume the body. Always fatal, and there's no antidote. There's nothing left for me to do. I can't heal him with any of my medicines. The only thing I can try is to give him painkillers so he feels minimal pain until the end."
Until the end. My anger surges up again, but I rear it in. I can't mark Jungkook while I'm bathed in rage. It would only hurt him. No matter how slim the odds were, if there was a chance he would live, I would pounce on it. I would probably curse myself for eternity if I let my soulmate die without doing anything to try and save him.
"Don't let anyone come in," I say, and Jin nods, understanding quickly. "Good luck. You're going to need it." He draws a sign across his heart, a gesture to give safe passage, as I click the door open.
The room is laden with shadows when I enter, and I suck in a breath when I see Jungkook. He lies still as death on the bed, his face bloodless and looking so much smaller and frailer than before. His breathing is shallow, and the color of his face is horribly off. When I take his small hand in mine, he barely reacts.
Taking off my shoes, I crawl over him, holding his delicately weak body in my hands. His eyelids flutter once, but other than that, his body is alarmingly cold and unmoving. But I could feel that he was still alive. I just needed to breathe a little extra life into him.
"Kookie," I caress his hair, kissing him gently on the forehead. "Jungkook, my love, open your eyes. Please. For me." He still doesn't move, body a deathly pale color. I try again, this time with a little more force. "Kookie? Can you hear me? Please open your eyes. Let me see that beautiful golden color I love so much."
His eyes slowly drag open, and I can tell how much of an effort it is. His golden brown eyes have lost their shine, and they're glazed over with pain. But he smiles when he sees my face, like I'm a sort of angel. "Your mask is off," he whispers, voice barely audible. "Good. I like seeing your face. It's pretty." I smile at him, stroking his cheek. He tries to smile back at me, but winces at the motion.
"Pretty..." His voice trails off, and his eyes start to close, like he has no energy to keep them open anymore.
"No, no, no," I cup his cheeks. "Don't close your eyes. Don't you dare close them."
"Tired," he murmurs. "Tae, I tried. I really tried. B-but I can't. I'm sorry―"
"It's alright Kook," I whisper, attaching our foreheads together carefully. "The pain will end soon. I'll help you through it." He nods, and the sureness in his gaze as he looks at me makes my heart break in two. He really trusts me to take away his pain. He trusts me with his life.
"Jungkook..." I'm not sure how to say it. But I can't spend time trying to draw out a perfect speech. He doesn't have that long. "I'm going to mark you. I'm going to turn you into a vampire so that your body can have a chance to fight off the poison. But to do that, I need to sink my fangs into your skin. Do I have your consent to do that?" I must ask for his approval before I do it, because if he would rather die, then I cannot deny him that, even if it shatters me into nothing. In the end, it's his choice. I cannot influence it.
"Turn me, Taehyung," he breathes, "If it's you, I don't mind. Just―Just please end the pain." I feel my heart clench tightly, and take time to kiss his chapped lips, pouring all the affection I feel into the kiss. "Thank you." I slide one hand under his shoulders, and use the other to grab his hand. "Whenever you feel pain, squeeze my hand. Pour the pain into me, my love." The silver ring that I gave him glitters on his finger, and I take courage from it, before directing my attention to his body.
I lean down towards his neck, leaving gentle kisses down the expanse of smooth, unmarked skin. Jungkook shivers, closing his eyes and submitting himself to the unknown feeling. Once I reach the place where his neck and shoulder meet, I stop. My fangs experimentally graze the spot, and Jungkook gasps. I knew instinctively that this was where I was going to mark him.
I squeeze his hand, signaling to him that I'm about to go in. He feebly nods, touching his forehead to mine: a sign to continue.
Without further waiting, I sink my fangs into his flesh, tearing through the layers of skin to reach his main bloodstream. Jungkook screams and buckles forward, the grip on my hand growing crushing. But I can't stop. I have to keep going. Soundless pants come from Jungkook's mouth, and his head falls back onto the pillows as I dig my fangs even deeper. Toxins start to be ejected out into his blood, starting the process that would turn him into a vampire. His eyes flicker from brown, to blue, to red, then back to brown, and his whole body shudders as it tries to fight against the poison lacing through his blood.
Please work. Please work. Jungkook twists and writhes on the sheets, body sweating as I struggle to hold him down, lest he accidentally dislodge my fangs. Taking out my canines before all the toxins had been released would be disastrous. I feel his moves become more and more sluggish as his heart starts to slow down; pulse becoming fainter and fainter. Slowly, his body begins to shut down, and his screams turn into whimpers as the light fades from his eyes. His body had to first die before it could be reborn, which meant that all of his vital organs would be stopped until the toxins necessary had fully circulated throughout his bloodstream.
Finally, his form goes limp on the bed, and I gradually inch my fangs out of his flesh, careful not to hurt him further. He doesn't even twitch when blood blooms out of the mark, and I lick it off, feeling the sweet taste burst on my tongue. When I look back at his neck, I see twin black dots on the otherwise smooth expanse of skin, and feel a swell of pride. I had marked him in a place which was impossible to miss. No other vampire could claim him now.
He was officially mine.
I kiss the mark, before turning to the side so that my weight doesn't crush Jungkook's still fragile body. Tucking the sheets under his chin, I snuggle down next to him, gently pulling his body close to mine. Laying by his side, with my hand absently combing his hair, I can feel my toxins fully twisting through his blood, eating away at the poison. With luck, it will be enough to bring him back from the doors of death. No, it had to be enough. I wasn't going to lose him so fast after finding him. For such a pure person like him to die at the hands of someone as vile as Lucius is unthinkable. Even fate must see how unreasonable that is. I take a peek at Jungkook's sleeping face, glad to find it so serene and pain-free.
He's resting peacefully on the bed, eyelids not even fluttering.
A little too peacefully.
Why wasn't he waking up?
I look at the clock. It had already been ten minutes. By this time, most people would have been opening their eyes, or at least start to breathe normally. But Jungkook was still lying motionless on the bed, not showing any signs of revival. When I put a hand to his mouth, I can feel that he isn't breathing. There was no need to check his heart or pulse, because he wouldn't need those things as a vampire.
But why wasn't he breathing?
"Jungkook?" I call out, gripping his cold fingers underneath the covers. No response. No! He can't be... "Jungkook! Kookie!" When I shake his shoulders, his head only rolls sideways, and his hands hang limply at his sides. I kiss his pink lips, but they're cold and unfeeling. "No..." A quiet sob shakes my whole body as I slowly pull him close to my chest, rocking him in my arms. Tears fall down my cheeks and I bury my face in the crook of his neck. "No, my Kookie. Not you too. Don't leave me so early. You―you said you would be fine. You promised." A broken cry leaves my lips as I weave my fingers through his soft hair. "You promised..."
How could fate be so cruel as to take away everything from me that I had ever loved? First, it took my parents; my father, with his bushy beard, and my mother with her warm smile. Then it took Lucius's humanity; the part that made him my blood brother. And now Jungkook, my beautiful, ethereal soulmate who I had promised to cherish and love. It was only a matter of time before it also took Lisa. And Jin. And everyone else in the world that I cared for. Was that my fate? To be alone in this cruel world forever?
As I cry into Jungkook's shoulder, I feel something hit my cheek lightly. Lost in pain and heartbroken, I don't pay attention to it. But then it comes again; a soft breeze that brushes against the skin so gently that I think I imagined it. I bring my head up from Jungkook's shoulder, trying to pinpoint if a window was somehow open.
But it's not a window.
As I watch with wide disbelieving eyes, Jungkook takes one shaky breath.
Then another.
And another.
It's shallow, barely even there, but it sounds like music to my ears. The music of life, swirling around the room as I want to cry out in joy. Relief. Happiness. I wasn't too late. He isn't gone.
He's alive.
He's going to live.
{😊😊}