White Noise - Prologue
Notes | Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
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32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | Epilogue
The psychologist mumbled, rather than spoke to Minho, and it was just one of the many things that Minho hated about the man. He also hated that the man's bald spot was off-center, and how his office smelled way too much like lemon cleaner. The man's yellowing, gapped teeth weren't completely without hate either.
The worst thing, though, was that the psychologist - like Minho's parents - didn't believe him about what had happened, and did everything he could to convince him that he'd temporarily lost his mind. Including giving him medication, which Minho threw out.
What happened was undeniably, 100% real. Over Spring Break, a vampire named Onew had broken into Minho's room - well, actually, the window was open, so "breaking in" is giving quite a bit of credit. When Onew bit Minho and didn't kill him, it created something called a "bond". A special connection between the two, that meant they knew things about each other, and could even feel each other's feelings.
That was pretty annoying, currently, because Onew didn't seem to be doing too well. What Minho figured was the equivalent of the vampire government was called "The Council" - and well - they were extremely fucked up, and they hated Onew.
To put things simply, they'd made Minho's life extremely difficult for a while, until Onew decided to turn himself in so that they'd lay off.
Oh, and that wasn't mentioning Taemin. Taemin was Minho's younger neighbor, and kind of sort of his friend, who had somehow got caught up in all of this. The last day that Minho saw Onew, Taemin had got captured by The Council, and Minho wasn't sure where he was now. Onew was supposed to save him, but...
His psychologist coughed an ugly, wheezing cough that broke Minho out of his thoughts. "Sir, are you okay?" he asked the man politely.
"Fine, son, fine, eh... listen, have you seen any eh.. vampires since last time we talked?"
This was only the second time Minho had met the psychologist, but he'd gotten through his story the first time no problem. He sighed, "No. I haven't."
"Good, good... so then, eh, what is on your mind lately?"
"My missing neighbor."
"Tambean?"
"Taemin."
"Right, right..." the psychologist coughed, another horrid cough. "Listen, when eh, we lose someone we're close to..."
"He's not dead. Don't talk about him like he's dead. I know he's alive." Minho says, but he doesn't know that the same way he knows Onew is. Because of their bond, if Onew dies, Minho dies. Besides, Onew's feelings still nag at him sometimes. He can tell that his vampire isn't doing good, but he feels like, if something went wrong with Taemin - he'd know that. Onews's feelings should tell him that, or so he kept telling himself.
The last day that he'd seen Onew, he'd seen a girl die - murdered by one of Onew's enemies. He couldn't help thinking of Taemin in her position, with that same dead blank stare...
It scared him.
A lot of things scared him now.
Like the fact that really, The Council somehow knows everything about everyone, and could truly come kill him at any time.
Jonghyun and Key - two vampires who had a major grudge against Onew - had tried to kill him, and well, they knew his address. It seemed to him like only a matter of time before they tried again.
Thinking about his last encounter with them made him shudder visibly, and the "doctor" noticed. He gave Minho a funny look, which he couldn't help but react to with annoyance.
Annoyance which may have caused the "leveling up" of Minho's pills. Minho threw them out, like the last, as soon as he got home.
School would start again tomorrow, and since Minho stayed in a dorm at his, he wouldn't be around to see if Taemin got home. His mom had already promised to tell him as soon as she saw him, but Minho worried that maybe Taemin would only want to be seen by him. Something kept telling him that.
Minho stared at his open window. Yeah, he still kept it open, in case Onew decided to come around again. Onew had a thing for windows, or something. Of course, Minho knew that other, less wanted vampires could come in the window that way - and there was the issue of bugs, too. But bugs didn't worry Minho too much, and he figured a closed window wasn't going to stop any vampire from coming in.
On this night, his open window turned out to be beneficial, because he heard car doors outside next door.
When he leaned out of the window, he saw him. Taemin.
He jumped out of his window, fleeing to the next door yard. "Taemin!"
When his bleached hair friend looked up from the duffel bag he was dragging on the ground toward the back of the cab, his face lit up with his smile. "Minho!"
It was fortunate that Taemin was incredibly light, because he flung himself into Minho's arms. "I missed you! I'm so glad you're okay!"
When Taemin stepped back, Minho was relieved to see he actually looked less banged up than last time he'd seen him. His bruises were gone, and the scratch that Key had left from his cheek to the corner of his eye was a white line. Also, Taemin seemed to be back to his old style, the one that Onew - for some reason - hated. Though he wasn't wearing eyeliner, he wore a black band t-shirt, and tight black pants with lace going up the back.
"What happened?" Minho asked, "How did Onew get you out? Do you know what they're doing to Onew?"
"I never saw Onew." Taemin said, blinking innocently, and then he flushed. "Actually, I escaped by myself."
"By.. yourself?" Minho asked. He'd been prisoner at The Council, and the maze of a building seemed beyond impossible to break out of.
"The vampires are really all busy, since I burned down half of the building." Taemin chewed thoughtfully on his lip for a second, and then said, "I hid out in Seoul for a while, before it felt safe enough to come get my stuff. They'll be looking for me, so I have to go."
"What about your mom?"
Taemin sighed, "She'll be okay on her own. It's just too dangerous for her if I stay here."
Taemin, his younger neighbor, had broken out of The Council by himself - and was feeling mature enough to go into hiding away from his mother because he was a danger to her?
"I'm.. a danger to my family too, but.."
"No, it's not like that." Taemin said, and pouted. "I can't really explain it. But I'm going to be involved with vampires a lot from now on."
"You're not saying.. you got bonded, right?" Minho asked, nervous. Onew was fine to be bonded too, but Minho had met a few other bonded humans and to put it simply, the lifestyle seemed fucked up.
"No, not like that." Taemin frowned, "I..... I'd tell you, I just, I'm not supposed to."
Taemin had been the only person Minho could talk to about his bond with Onew. Taemin was the only person that believed him. Taemin knew everything. (Even more than he should know, Minho thought, remembering those 'something is going on between you two' expressions that Taemin would give even before Minho and Onew kissed..)
Yeah, so, Minho kissed a boy. A vampire boy. Man, even. A vampire man. But so what? Bonds were above gender, is what Onew had said. Not that Minho was in a relationship or anything with Onew. It was just a kiss.. and it was more like, not a kiss, because it only started when Onew was drinking the blood from Minho's lip and...
"I'm sorry, Minho. I wish I could stay around."
Minho frowned, trying to look calm. "It's fine. You have to do what you have to do. I have to go back to school tomorrow anyway."
Taemin smiled and nodded, "Cool."
"Well... keep in touch.." Minho said.
"Sure." Taemin said, smiling.
Minho helped Taemin load the cab, and watched him kiss his mom (who slurred a drunken greeting at Minho) goodbye. Minho smiled awkwardly and waved, feeling his heart sink as the cab drove away.
It'd be a good while before he saw Taemin again.
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