Open Window (OnHo) - Part 38
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Special special thanks to lefty_215, who quality checked this part for me since I wrote it while tiireed. ♥
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After a while of the three watching Looney Tunes and snacking on potato chips, Taemin said he was tired, and Onew lead him off to a bedroom. When he returned to the living room, the TV was off, and he expected the question before Minho asked it.
"Can we talk yet? Is it 'later'?"
Onew sighed, walking over and joining Minho on the couch. "I wish you wouldn't pester me about this."
"About what's basically the reason I can't see my parents?"
"I killed my sire. The vampire that turned me, the vampire that as a human I was bonded to. After a vampire turns their bonded into a vampire, they're supposed to keep their distance. A vampire forgets their human life entirely, but being too close to their human memories.. For me, it was painful. I got headaches. But my sire kept me prisoner, until I killed him."
Minho blinked, "Just like that?"
"I didn't snap my fingers and make him dead, no." Onew said, wrinkling his nose. "I bit him a lot and cut his head off."
Minho stared wide eyed.
"He was friends with a member of The Council. They've pretty much been constantly 'punishing me' since then, and in return I've been lashing out against their laws."
"Purposely making them angrier with you?"
"Purposely annoying them, is more the point."
"There must be someone on your side." Minho said. "I heard people talking, and they sounded like they thought The Council was harsh on you."
Onew shrugged, "I was doing fine. Until I messed up, and some humans I'd been using talked to the media. They said my name and everything, which pissed a lot of vampires off and gave Key and Jonghyun the support they needed to try coming after me again. I have my friends, but most of them are too scared to stand by me."
Onew's expression grew solemn. "It makes sense, because I destroy everything I touch."
Minho felt his sadness, and in return he felt pity for his vampire, yet he couldn't disagree, and he got angry too. "Then you knew what you were pulling me into."
"I was scared that night." Onew confessed, sighing. "It was the first time I'd seen Jonghyun in a long time. Before Jonghyun was a vampire, I was bonded to him."
".. Then you shouldn't be around him, right?"
"Right." Onew shrugged, "It's not my fault his sire hates me so much."
"Wait... why didn't you turn him? If you were bonded or whatever..."
"I wasn't supposed to be bonded to him at all. He was supposed to be a random kill, but I stopped drinking. So we got bonded. The Council was going to take him if I didn't kill him. So I tried to kill him, couldn't, and Key turned him."
".. You tried to kill him so The Council wouldn't take him?" Minho asked, stunned. "They wanted to take him, like they want to take me?"
"I learned my lesson." Onew said bluntly, his attitude beginning to return. "You already said you knew I wouldn't hurt you intentionally."
"I do know." Minho said softly. "It's just surprising."
"What's surprising is that you actually got me to tell you about this shit." Onew said bitterly, standing up.
"I deserved to know." Minho said, standing up too. Then, he could feel as well as he could see the rage that over took Onew, and horrifying was an understatement.
Onew bared his fangs and grabbed Minho's arms, spinning him around so he could shove him back against the wall. Minho looked at the less bloody version of the first Onew he'd met, snarling and crazy, and hard to call 'scared' - as he'd earlier claimed to be.
"You should be a bloodless corpse on your bedroom floor. The mistake I made was not killing you. Get over yourself, before I decide to correct it."
Minho trembled even after Onew let him go. He fell to his knees as Onew left the room. He stayed there, listening to a brightly colored toucan clock ticking the seconds away, and quietly cried.
***
Taemin woke himself up from a nightmare, screaming and clutching at his eye, calming down when he realized it was still there - no matter how dark the room was. He shot out of bed, feeling around blindly, jumping at every little shadow. His breathing was panicked sobs as he made his way through the hall, looking for a light or anything.
He saw there was light on in the living room, and ran to it, but found Minho's body on the floor, and he screamed again at the sight.
Minho opened his eyes, not sure when he'd passed out, but horrified to hear Taemin's scream until he saw that he was right there, and looked safe.
"What's wrong?" he asked quickly, pulling himself off the floor.
"Minho? Minho, oh God.." Taemin ran forward, tightly hugging him. "My eye.. my eye.." he sobbed.
Minho tiredly hugged back, and sudden footsteps made both of them tense up, but they soon relaxed when Onew stepped in.
"What's the matter?" Onew asked, looking non-too-happy.
"I think Taemin had a nightmare." Minho explained shortly, and Taemin gave a brief nod.
Onew didn't look at Taemin at first. For a long moment, he kept his eyes on Minho, as if expecting him to say something more, or maybe even lash out. Then Onew gave Taemin a forced looking smile, and said, "You can come sleep with me, until time to get up."
"Okay." Taemin said, slowly detaching himself from Minho.
For a second, Minho wasn't sure if he should let Taemin leave with Onew. Then, Onew looked at him and said, "I'm so sorry." and his regret slammed through Minho's mind painfully. Minho stared at him.
Taemin stepped over to Onew, asking "Why are you sorry?"
"I said something mean to Minho." Onew said seriously.
Taemin looked at Minho, "Well it's okay, right? You two are bonded and all."
Minho hadn't heard a word between the two, but told Onew, "I forgive you."
Taemin smiled, "Don't go back to sleep on the floor, okay? It's not good for you." But despite that smile, Minho and Onew heard the shakiness of Taemin's voice, and apparently Onew decided the best cure for the fear was hurriedly getting Taemin back in bed. He put a hand on the kid's back, guiding him back towards his bedroom.
Minho felt better, though a little concerned about feeling better. He'd basically just been threatened by a known murderer. A nap later, and he'd forgiven him without even a discussion.
Bonds, he decided, really did suck.
Click here for Part 39