Archive of Our Own

He didn’t expect it to last well over a month.

Yoo Mia was throughly enjoying her time with the other kids and going all-out with her officially unsealed powers. She was having so much fun Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t have it in him to cut her time short. What could a month do, he thought. There were no fools to try and take over his territory back in the city, the Lords knew he would trample their pathetic rebellion as soon as he was back.

A month turned out to be more than enough time for a complete takeover.

“He’s just a piece of trash!”

“He isn’t worth your time, Master!”

If someone took over his territory in less than a month and didn’t break his fangs for it, they were more than worth Yoo Jonghyuk’s time. Yoo Jonghyuk knew every Lord by name, and he did not recognise the newcomer. It could only meant it was either a newly crowned Lord who challenged Yoo Jonghyuk’s authority and halfway succeeded, or one of the older Lords with a grudge.

Rumours weren’t helpful in figuring out which was true.

Kim Namwoon had a first unfortunate run with the newcomer. The Lord put him on his knees in less than a second, scolded him and burned his neck as a warning. Kim Namwoom went in hiding for a week. The burn had eventually faded, but he was reluctant to challenge the stronger vampire afterwards, and he didn’t allow Lee Jihye to interfere.

Lee Jihye, a dampire, claimed she won’t be affected by the Lord’s authority, and tried to make her case anyway. She was intercepted and driven away by werewolves.

Yes, werewolves.

Werewolves were notoriously famous as perfect thralls for the vampire lords. They were also known for their strong repulsion to being enslaved by a vampire, and thus extremely rare to come by as thralls. The Lord who’d taken over Yoo Jonghyuk’s territory didn’t have just one werewolf thrall. No, he had an entire pack to his beck and call.

“Just try it, blood sucker,” an alpha of that pack growled in Yoo Jonghyuk’s face when he searched his land for an intruder. She was strong despite clearly getting the title only recently. What was worse, she practically radiated loyalty, but there was no ancient magic binding her will. She was following this new Lord willingly.

Yoo Jonghyuk could kill her. She would put a decent fight. Still, killing werewolves was bound to cause trouble with the tribes, and the tribes were already putting a strain on vampire’s influence over the city. Yoo Jonghyuk did not wish the city to drown in blood.

He left the pack alone.

Everywhere Yoo Jonghyuk went he saw changes evicted by the new Lord. The territory became safer, less prone to open conflicts. Before, Yoo Jonghyuk’s power kept smaller vampires from rebelling, but they never ceased to squabble with each other. Since Yoo Jonghyuk paid them no mind, they fought for food and they fought for influence. The streets weren’t safe. Now, the werewolves were keeping vigil, forcing the vampires to learn restrain. It seemed like many were forced to be kinder to humans, to actually consider them as the living beings instead of a livestock.

Yoo Jonghyuk believed the vampire’s nature was unchangeable. As a Lord, he didn’t try to teach the vampires on his territory the meaning of restrain. The new Lord, however, was proving it was possible with the right disposition, and Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t like being proven wrong.

To his dismay, he was kept denied the audience with the man.

“Are you stupid or just dence?” A witch he was working with briefly before, Han Sooyung, made an unexpectedly bold move and relocated to his territory. When he pointed it out, she gave him a crooked smile and sing-sung how it wasn’t his anymore, and she was free to do as she wished as long as the new head didn’t have a problem with it. “I’m not going to tell you where to find him. He is way better landlord than you. And he likes my ‘crappy novels’ unlike someone I know.”

Han Sooyung clearly knew who the new Lord was. More than that, her infuriating attitude indicated she was a close acquaintance with the man, perhaps even a close friend. She could be the reason why the takeover took less than a month, she could be responsible why Yoo Jonghyuk lost his territory to begin with.

His claws were at her neck.

“I don’t need you alive for it.”

Han Sooyung was selfish. She was not known for sticking her neck out for others. She was called a witch not only because of her unique abilities and heritage, she was also called that for being a famous backstabber who cared only for herself.

The woman didn’t bulge.

“Go on,” she taunted. “See if you regret it. I know a lot of your secrets, Yoo Jonghyuk. Don’t think they won’t see the light if I die here.”

If Yoo Jonghyuk wasn’t a creature of the night, he would have believed in her brave front. As it was, he could feel her fear, thick and heavy, as well as her determination mixed with it. She was afraid to die and she didn’t want to die. She likely had tricks in her sleeves to escape his wrath, but...

Yoo Jonghyuk did not slit her throat.

“Woah,” she said, blinking and rubbing a tiny red marks on her neck. “Who knew, you do have a heart, even if it’s smidge black.”

Quieter, she added.

“Figures he was right.”

It didn’t end there.

A police officer, an incredibly rare sight in any part of the city, had casually parked his car near the park and spend a day patrolling its premise, smiling reassuringly at the sparse passersby. His presence didn’t seem to serve any particular reason.

The officer smiled at Yoo Jonghyuk when he walked past him.

It was unnerving.

Every police officer was given a run-down course on the vampire lords in the city. Vampire lords were to be avoided at all costs regardless of their level of aggression. There was no reason for this officer to be friendly with Yoo Jonghyuk. He had to know Yoo Jonghyuk was a vampire lord to work in the force.

The man continued to smile. “Good day to you. Hope there is no problem?”

Was he asking Yoo Jonghyuk’s permission to patrol the area? Yoo Jonghyuk ignored him. If the fool wished to die to vampire’s claws, which often happened to the opportunistic police officers, it was up to him.

The police officer did not die to vampire’s claws. If anything, his presence seemed to draw humans on the streets. The more he patrolled the park, the braver humans became. Before, the park was practically deserted, so great was the fear to die to another “mass murderer” as the media called them. Now, it thrived with life, with prey, and no one dared to take the bite.

“Oppa, did you do something?” Yoo Mia asked him one evening.

Yoo Jonghyuk narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

She shrugged.

“I didn't have anyone to play with before. Now I was able to make friends. You know, human friends.”

Yoo Mia was always sad she couldn’t make human friends. There weren’t many families willing to let their children play on the street when they could end up as a victim to a starving vampire.

Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t answer.

“Whatever,” Yoo Mia mumbled. “I’m glad you did though, now it’s actually save for us to play together. Thanks, Oppa!”

It wasn’t something Yoo Jonghyuk did. Yoo Jonghyuk never cared for the territory he had conquered. He made it safe for his sister by making an example of the vampires who dared to threaten her, and he dealt with the Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye’s offenders.

Was it wrong of him? It wasn’t his obligation to set the vampires straight. It took too much effort and hassle to keep them in check, to organise them in a solid unit. Yoo Jonghyuk had no plans to fight for influence, nor had he wished to challenge other lords. He wanted Yoo Mia to be safe and was ready to kill anyone who dared to trespass on his land.

What else there was for him? He could kill or conquer other vampire lords. But for what?  To rule over their territories?

Next day, a journalist he often saw on the news was taking an interview from an old man. She was one of the few journalists brave enough to venture on the streets and ask citizens for their honest opinion.

The veil the media put over the vampires’ incidents was slowly cracking. Humans were starting to suspect there was more to the mass murderers they constantly heard of on the News.

The woman thanked the old man for his time and motioned for the cameraman to pack up. There was another man in a white coat standing aside and waiting for her.

Yoo Jonghyuk’s eyes latched onto that man.

The white coat was shimmering under the winter sun. It brimmed with familiar magic, a magic Yoo Jonghyuk recognised as a glimmer.

A glimmer was used to hide one’s true self. It was used by a powerful creatures to cover their scent, to hide their strength.

Yoo Jonghyuk always wore a glimmer himself. He wouldn’t miss it even if he tried.

Got you.

He waited for the journalist woman to bid her farewells, watched the TV station van taking off. He watched as the man jived from foot to foot, blowing puff of stream out of his mouth. For a second, Yoo Jonghyuk suspected the man knew he was there and waited for him to come out. But the feeling passed as the man started to move, heading wherever the new Lord planned on bringing his orders next.

It was almost a child’s play to trail him. It was easy to pick a moment to strike, to overpower, to slide into the shadows until they took them away from the curious eyes and sharp ears.

Yoo Jonghyuk slammed the man into the metal and bared his fangs. He was holding him by the throat with one hand, and he used the other to tear through the annoying glimmer. He wanted to feel this vampire’s strength, he wanted to truly see a fool who challenged him, who did better than him.

“You.”

And as the glimmer fell, the wide clear eyes stared back at him.

Black and unmistakably human.