Minah’s heart leaped into her throat. He couldn’t be… No, Jaeyun’s my friend. Besides, the only place you can see a vampire in Nacheon City is in a movie, right? But she couldn’t deny the red eyes staring at her. Her voice came out unsteady as she called, “Jaeyun, w-what’s wrong?”
For a long moment, Jaeyun simply continued staring at her. His mouth parted slightly and revealed sharp canines. Minah could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage and suddenly asked herself if Jaeyun could hear it too, his senses being so supernatural and all. It made sense. If Jaeyun had been a vampire all along, he’d naturally have heightened hearing and smelling, and he could see in the dark the same as the day, perhaps better.
So distracted by this realization, Minah didn’t realize Jaeyun had taken a step closer to her. He breathed in deeply and touched his finger to her shoulder. Then he brought his finger back to his mouth and licked the beads of blood off it. He tried to come closer, but Minah held him back with her injured arm. She tried to dig into her skull for any bit of information about vampires. Being to rare, her teacher rarely talked about them, and they certainly hadn’t come up on any tests. Even Subin might not be privy to any knowledge…
Minah tried the only thing she could. “Jaeyun, hey, it’s me,” she said. “Snap out of it, o-okay?”
A feeble moan could be heard. Minah looked at her feet to see the man with the partially burnt face rolling over onto his back. He moved his limbs futilely. Jaeyun dropped beside him and grabbed him by his collar, then Jaeyun bit into his neck.
Jaeyun sucked up more and more of the man’s blood. As he gulped, Minah could see the man’s body fall still. Part of Minah thought she should run. While the vampire’s distracted. That’d be smartest. But she couldn’t. She didn’t know where to go, and even if she did, she could barely see a thing. If she ran she could trip and injure herself even more. She could run into more muggers or off a ledge or something.
Moreover, Minah’s shoulder hurt, and she felt scared, even more scared than while she and Jaeyun winded through the streets lost or when they had been ambushed. At least then she had a friend.
Run, that part of her still told Minah. Her legs couldn’t move. They felt so delicate. A sob rose in her throat, and Minah sank onto the pavement and tried to keep herself from crying.
Suddenly Minah could the clopping of a horse trotting on the stone streets. A light shined from around the corner as they approached. A paladin? Minah couldn’t think of anyone else who’d be riding a horse through here at night. Horses in general aren’t too common in Nacheon City. Should I stand up? Yell for help?
A man emerged into Minah’s street. His face bruised and his coat dusty, Minah recognized him as the man whose eyes she injured—come to think of it, Minah didn’t realize one of the three men had gone missing in the first place. He pointed a crooked finger in Minah’s direction. “It’s here! I promise! The vampire!”
It clicked. The paladin came to kill Jaeyun.
Though every part of her body still trembled, Minah grabbed Jaeyun with her good arm and shook him. “We need to go. A paladin is coming. Don’t you hear that?”
If he did, Jaeyun displayed no signs of it. He continued devouring the man’s blood. Minah shook him again. “Please, they’ll kill you. I’m scared.”
Suddenly Jaeyun released the man’s neck, and he looked up at Minah. As the vampire’s eyes met hers, Minah felt a shiver go through her body.
“L-let’s go.” Minah stood up and dragged Jaeyun up with her.
Suddenly something shot into Jaeyun’s back, and the boy tumbled onto the ground. Gasping, Minah whirled around to see the paladin arrived on horseback. Both the man and the horse had on chest plates, and the sigil painted on signified them both as members of the Order of Light.
The paladin held up a rifle engraved in gold, smoke drifting from the barrel. He had his finger om the trigger and readied to fire another bullet.
Before she could think Minah jumped in front of Jaeyun. “Wait! It’s just a misunderstanding.” She pointed a finger at the dirty man standing beside the paladin. “That man and his friends tried to mug us! My friend just attacked in self-defense.”
“You attacked us first!” the criminal first.
“That’s a lie!” Minah yelled.
The paladin didn’t seem to hear any of it. “Move,” he commanded Minah. “Or I’ll shoot you too.”
“No, we’re innocent,” Minah said. “We’re just students. We got lost heading home and ran into trouble, that’s all! He’s who you should be arresting!”
“My only duty here is to kill the vampire. I’m not paid to sort out among civilians.”
“Please, he’s my friend,” Minah begged.
The paladin aimed his gun. Then she heard a scuffle behind her as Jaeyun stood up and lurched to her side. He reached out his hands and conjured a great ball of fire that threatened to scorch Minah’s hair just by standing so close to it. Jaeyun launched his spell, and it hit the paladin in a fiery explosion that knocked him from his horse.
Embers scattered across the street. The mugger stumbled back then turned tail and disappeared into an alley. The horse reared up onto its hind legs then galloped off too, leaving just the paladin behind.
“Is he dead?” Minah asked when the man didn’t move. But then he began stirring, the flames that caught onto his armor extinguished by the enchantments imbued in the metal.
“Come on.” Minah grabbed Jaeyun’s arm and they ran for it.
A light shone up ahead, but not the stable light of a street lamp. No, the light wavered as if being carried—another lantern. More paladins? Perhaps they had heard the explosion.
Minah felt Jaeyun tug on her sleeve and followed him into an alley. With the houses towering high overhead, even the moonlight didn’t penetrate and Minah could barely see a couple inches in front of her.
Minah whispered,
“We’re almost there,” Jaeyun said. Only a couple seconds later, they turned into a larger street which then fed into the square they had just visited a couple hours ago. It looked to different in the dark, so dull and desolate. None of Minah’s schoolmates paraded around visiting the shops and hanging out. Nobody harked their goods.
Behind them in the alley they just left, a light shone. “Is it the same paladin?” Minah gasped.
“No, these footsteps are spaced much farther apart, a person with longer legs perhaps,” Jaeyun said.
“You can tell all that?” Minah said.
They crossed half the square but halted by the fountain. A second light approached them from the opposite street. “They’re surrounding us,” Jaeyun said.
Minah’s eyes found the sign of her tea shop. “In there.” Minah led them to the steps of the shop and fished out the keys from her bag. It took a second for her to find the keyhole, then she unlocked the door and slipped in, shutting the door behind them.
They ran behind the counters and ducked just as light flared in the square, some of it shining through the curtains. “Can you tell how many people are out there?” Minah asked.
“Five,” Jaeyun said.
“Five?” Minah held up five of her fingers. “Why are there so many paladins out? They can’t all be searching for you… can they? Usually there’s only a couple patrolling each district on one night.”
“They might be more alert tonight because of the blackout,” Jaeyun said. “And they might not all be paladins. Some might be regular knights. I can’t tell just from their footsteps if they’re all light mages or not.”
“What will we do?” Minah said.
“We’ll just wait until they leave,” Jaeyun said. “It’s our only option.”
Minah brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her body. Her shoulder still hurt. She figured she might have something she could at least stop the bleeding with in the shop’s bathroom and got up to check. Finding a first aid kit under the sink, she opened it before realizing she couldn’t see any of the components.
She brought the kit into the storage room located in the back and poked her head out. “Jaeyun, can you come help me?”
Jaeyun walked in and sit across from her.
“I need a light,” Minah explained, then added, “If you feel fit enough to.”
“I’m fine,” Jaeyun said and summoned a small flame in his palm. In its light, Minah could see what bad shape they’re both in. Blood had soaked the entire front of Jaeyun’s uniform jacket.
“Wait, what about your back?” Minah said. Jaeyun acted so normal she almost forgot he’d been shot.
“It’ll heal,” Jaeyun said. “Take care of yourself first.”
“No, turn around,” Minah said. When Jaeyun didn’t, Minah stepped around to his back side and peeled his jacket and shirt off. She could see his torn flesh at the point the bullet dug into him. She gasped. She’d seen scrapes and minor cuts, sure, but nothing like this. “You shouldn’t be standing,” she murmured.
“Call it a perk of being a vampire.”
Minah could see the bullet. It hadn’t gotten far. Grabbing a pair of tweezers from the kit, Minah plucked it out.
“Ouch!” Jaeyun screamed.
“Shush,” Minah said. “They’ll hear.” Dropping the bullet on the lid of the kit, Minah foraged for a bandage.
After she dressed Jaeyun’s and her injuries, she finally collapsed on the floor exhausted. Her limbs ached from all that running, and tears pricked her eyes. She almost died that day, multiple times.
She heard the tap turning on and off, and Jaeyun appeared beside her with a cup and something in his hand. “It’ll help the pain,” he said.
“You drink it,” Minah said. “You’re hurt more grievously than me.”
“Like I told you, I heal fast,” Jaeyun said, mixing in the solution then pushing the cup to Minah’s mouth. Minah consumed a bitter concoction that almost made her cough. Leaning against the storage unit behind her, Minah closed her eyes.
“Minah. Minah.”
Minah’s eyelids fluttered open, and she sat straight up. Then pain shot through her upper body, radiating from her shoulder.
“Careful,” Jaeyun said, supporting her as she got up. “It’s morning. We should go. Employees will be in soon.”
Minah craned her head up at the narrow windows high on the ceiling of the storage room. Sure enough, sunlight shone in. “Wait,” she said. “Shouldn’t you be burning in the sun or something?”
“Me? Burning in the sun?” Jaeyun repeated.
“Yes, you,” Minah said. “You’re—“ For some reason she couldn’t say it. “You’re one of them.”
Averting his gaze, Jaeyun brushed his uncombed hair out of his face. “Let’s just go.” He stood up and waited for Minah at the door.
“Hold on, we can’t walk around like this.” Minah picked herself up and gestured to a box on a shelf. “We keep the spare uniforms there.”
Jaeyun bent to grab the box and took out shirts for him and Minah. “I’ll be right back,” he said and dipped into the bathroom. Since the shirt seemed baggy enough already, Minah put hers on covering her current clothing to avoid having to move her shoulder too much. She hoped not many people would be about at this time on a weekend.
Once Jaeyun finished changing and put his bloody clothes in his bag, they cleaned up the first aid kit and left the store. As Minah expected, the square had little activity other than a janitor who didn’t look up or greet them.
“You should see a doctor for that,” Jaeyun said.
Minah almost laughed. “A doctor? I can’t afford a doctor. I’ll just go to the nurse’s office when school starts.”
“Minah, it could get infected. At least get Harin to take a look at it. Isn’t her mother a nurse?”
“I doubt that means she has any experience in the matter. The girl faints at the sight of any blood. Will you just take me home? You aren’t going to run off like you tried to last night, are you?”
“No. No, I’ll walk you,” Jaeyun said.
They headed south to Minah’s apartment. Soon the paved street faded into a dirt road, and the large multi-story wooden buildings got smaller and smaller, and closer and closer together. A mild stench hung in the air.
They turned into the alley that led into Minah’s apartment and met with a hoard of people. “What’s going on?” Minah asked. She recognized some of them as her neighbors, but others seemed to be just gathered around out of curiosity.
“Minah, there you are!”
The people parted to give Minah clear view of her landlord and, beside him, a paladin.