[CONTENTID1]Begonia[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Chapter Eight[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

He was here—he had found her. Red eyes stared at her, glowing in the dark. Yoonhee was back in her parents’ home, standing in her very own bedroom. The vampire and she were the only people in the house and the eerie silence weighed on her. She shivered.

“I found you, little one. There is no point in running from a vampire,” he drawled and walked closer. His gaze latched on to her exposed neck. Fear froze every limb of her body—Yoonhee couldn’t move.

“You’ve been hiding for a long time,” he continued and touched her chin with his icy fingers. “I’m a bit angry about that, you know? You made me quite impatient.”

She took a shivering breath—and suddenly his hand was on her neck, squeezing painfully. The vampire’s face shifted and changed, becoming one that she was all too familiar with.

Sooyoung choked her. She couldn’t breathe anymore, clawing at his hands, fighting and pushing him. But he wouldn’t budge. As the last of her strength left her and her surroundings faded…

…she woke up with a sharp scream. Yoonhee hyperventilated, thinking she was suffocating. Her hands flew to her neck, touching it, making sure nobody was holding on to it anymore. The door of her room was ripped open suddenly, and a piercing pair of red eyes stared at her. She flinched violently—and calmed when she realized who it was.

“What’s wrong?” Baekhyun asked urgently, checking every corner of the room with his vigilant gaze. He couldn’t see nor smell any intruders and once he was sure they were alone, he relaxed.

“Did you have a nightmare?” he asked and sat on the edge of her bed, looking her over. His soulmate seemed shaken, wiping her wet eyes with the back of her hand.

“Yes,” she managed to say.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked and cupped her hand with his after seeing it shaking with dread. Yoonhee composed herself since she didn’t want to cry in front of him, brushing her hair behind her ear and gazing at him with shiny green eyes.

“I dreamed about the vampire who killed my parents. He found me,” she whispered. “And then he suddenly turned into Sooyoung…”

Baekhyun could only guess what this Sooyoung had done to her to make her so apprehensive and anxious whenever she thought of him. Destroying her flower shop was one thing, but the marks Baekhyun had discovered on her neck showed that other things had occurred as well. Baekhyun was very tempted to pay this man a visit. He usually wasn’t one to take revenge, but when his soul’s other half was involved, the idea sounded appealing… After all, Baekhyun had to make sure it wouldn’t happen again, and the only way of doing that was getting rid of the bastard.

“You don’t have to worry about Sooyoung as long as you’re here,” Baekhyun murmured, inching closer to her. He wasn’t sure how she would react to his presence and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, so he moved slowly. However, Yoonhee didn’t mind at all. She bridged the distance between them when she wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face at his chest. The soothing and warm magic of their soulmate bond enveloped them, blossoming like a flower in spring. She let out a breath and inhaled his pleasant scent. Baekhyun himself was stunned by her reaction yet didn’t hesitate to hold her and wrap his arms around her petite frame.

“Even when I’m not around, the other clan members would notice if an intruder was on the property and they wouldn’t ignore that,” he added after a moment of silence.

“I fear the vampire and his clan are still looking for me,” she whispered apprehensively. “I had a few close encounters with them in the past five years. Thankfully, I managed to evade them, but it proves they still want me. I’m worried they will cause harm to you and the others when they find out I’m here.”

She lowered her head in guilt. “I’m so sorry, I don’t want to drag you into this.”

“Yoonhee, none of this is your fault,” he replied calmly. “You don’t know anything about the clan? Their location or perhaps the name of a member?”

She shook her head. “No. Maybe my parents would have known more, but they didn’t want to worry me and hardly told me anything about our pursuers.”

“I see,” Baekhyun uttered. “Remember one thing. You have nothing to be concerned about. As a member of our clan, you are under our protection, and should this other clan decide to bother you again, they will make all of us their enemies.” Red flickered through his darkening eyes.

“Besides, I would rather die than let this filthy murderer touch you another time,” he muttered before his tone softened. He soothingly caressed her back, studying her with a thoughtful expression. It was still nighttime, and she needed to rest—he had to make sure she went back to sleep soon.

“Do you think you can sleep some more? It’s only four in the morning.”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Sorry for disturbing you.”

“I don’t mind staying with you, my flower.” His lips brushed over her hairline as he nuzzled his face into the softness of her black tresses.

“So you won’t leave?”

“No,” he mumbled. “Move over, then I will join you.”

She flushed, her heart skipping a beat. Why did his voice sound so… alluring all of a sudden? Why were his eyes shimmering red? Yoonhee made space for him, laying down and resting her head on her pillow as she watched him confusedly. He couldn’t be thirsty again, so why did it happen regardless?

Baekhyun lay next to her, on top of the cover. He rolled on his side to gaze at her. “Close your eyes, buttercup,” he whispered and she did as he said.

She stuck out her hand from underneath the cover and reached out to him in the darkness. Realizing what she wanted, he took her hand and held it, intertwining her fingers with his. The proximity of her soulmate calmed her, so she soon became sleepy.

“Goodnight,” she heard him say, but she was too tired to answer. His touch held her fear of another nightmare at bay. Unaware of the reddish eyes that watched over her, she fell into a deep slumber.

When Baekhyun checked in on her the following morning after breakfast, he found Yoonhee sitting alone in her room. She looked a little lost as she kneeled on the bed with her nose stuck in a spellbook. It was obvious she avoided the other clan members. Since he had brought her breakfast to her bedroom earlier and since her bathroom was next door, she didn’t have a reason to wander through the mansion.

Baekhyun studied her for a while, not liking her pale complexion. His eyes darted over the flowers nearby, noting that they had closed their blossoms, looking gloomy—if that was even possible for a plant. He assumed Yoonhee’s sadness somehow affected them. She still had to come to terms with everything that happened to herself and to her beloved flower shop. He couldn’t stand seeing her in distress, so he figured he had to do something to cheer her up.

“I want to show you the garden today,” Baekhyun said, hoping for a positive reaction.

“I’m not interested,” she uttered, thinking of the countless other vampires on the property. She wasn’t keen on meeting them.

“Flowers need sunlight to bloom,” he said and winked. “Let’s go outside, buttercup.”

“But what if—”

“Aren’t you curious about the plants that grow here? Our garden is very big.”

Yoonhee drew her bottom lip in between her teeth as she contemplated and had to admit that he was slowly changing her mind. She was curious indeed, but her anxiety held her back. It was like a heavy anchor that prevented her from moving forward.

“Come on, Yoonhee. I know you want to see them,” he coaxed. “I will stay with you the entire time. We will do it together, okay? What’s the worst that could possibly happen?”

She couldn’t answer that without hurting his feelings since it was apparent that he liked his clan, so she refrained from telling him.

“Join me, my flower,” Baekhyun said, stubborn as always, and walked towards the door, expecting her to follow. And she did, after a moment of hesitation. She grabbed her shoes and followed him to the hallway that led to the foyer. They walked at a casual pace which allowed her to look around.

The pictures decorating the entire house were interesting, depicting various scenes and people, some of them familiar, others not so much. One of these portraits showed Yerin, painted with an abundance of colors that were mixed in a random manner, yet somehow looked exactly like her.

“Junmyeon could open his own art gallery,” Baekhyun commented once he noticed her glances. “He has a small atelier in the west wing of the house where he spends hours working on his art.”

“So these were all made by him,” she concluded. His talent was impressive.

“Yes. I think he could easily become famous if he wanted to, but for us vampires, it’s better to stay in the background. Humans would eventually notice when someone famous never ages and lives for a hundred years without changing even a bit.”

“It must be difficult to fool them,” Yoonhee mumbled, knitting her brows. It was no secret to her that supernatural beings could reach a very high age. Whether it was vampires or werewolves and witches, in theory, they all could live forever. However, most witches did not. Countless had lost their lives while trying to fend off hunters or vampire clans. The thought left a stale taste in . Yoonhee wondered if her own kind would see her as a traitor for joining a vampire clan…

“Well, nowadays it’s harder to blend in than it was two hundred years ago,” he answered. “Citizens are monitored more closely than ever, so it’s necessary to get a new identity every thirty years or so before people get suspicious when we don’t age. Fortunately, some vampires work in administrative positions—they can easily tweak some things here and there to help us hide our nature.”

“How old are you, exactly?” she asked curiously.

“I was born around 250 years ago. Haven’t counted in a while. It becomes pointless when you’re past the age of 100,” he explained, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked. They reached the stairs at the end of the hallway and descended them, entering the empty foyer of the house.

“That means you have experienced a lot throughout your life,” she mumbled, cocking her head. He hadn’t told her much about him yet—she hardly knew anything, and she wished to change this. “I’ve been wondering, do you have a job? You never mentioned anything.”

Her interest in him made him smile. “I used to be a pianist in recent years, but I had to stop when I became too famous. My reputation threatened to expose my true nature because nosy fans started to look into my private life,” he sighed with a shake of his head. “After that, I worked in my parents’ law firm for a while but didn’t enjoy it since music is my passion. So, instead of being a pianist, I ended up writing songs. It allows me to stay out of the public eye… but I do miss playing in front of an audience sometimes.”

Yoonhee wondered what kind of vampires his parents were—and whether they would even like her, given the fact that she was a witch. Maybe she would meet them one day. The thought made her stiffen a little bit, so she decided to ignore the topic for now.

“Working as a vampire is hard, huh? Sounds like it’s difficult to find a suitable job,” she replied.

“It’s not as hard as it might seem. The other clan members have found ways to blend in with humans as well. In some cases, the professions they chose are rather surprising. Take Yixing for example. I always think he is mad for becoming a surgeon. I don’t know how he withstands the temptation of blood in his daily life, but he makes it work somehow. He’s got astounding self-control,” Baekhyun explained. “Chanyeol and Sehun on the other hand are producing music, and Jongdae works as a private detective. His vampire senses make his job quite easy.”

“Wow, that’s impressive. I thought you all had weird jobs,” Yoonhee remarked. “But they sound pretty normal. What I don’t understand is why you need to go so far to hide your identities from humans. Vampires are much more powerful than humans anyway. What is there to fear?”

“It’s complicated, but I will try to sum it up for you. Exposing our true nature to humans is considered a crime in our society. If you commit this crime, you will get in trouble with the most influential vampire clan there is. Its leaders make the rules and enforce them all around the world. Many vampires have disregarded their laws before and paid with their lives,” Baekhyun said. “It’s easier for us if humans don’t know about us. As long as they are oblivious, we can do as we please without repercussions. Humans might not be physically strong, but they do have dangerous weapons at their disposal. It would be wrong to underestimate them. Think about the utter chaos they caused during the witch hunts of the Middle Ages.”

Yoonhee frowned, having heard the stories about her kind being hunted down from her own parents. Humans coul