The forests were wild at night, the sound of unearthly beings slithering and wolves howling echoed off the hills and mountains that surrounded it. Gunji had come looking for something in particular.
A breeze picked up, sifting his hair from his eyes as he scanned the wilderness. Amongst those he had under his thrall, Gunji had a witch and there were certain ingredients she needed to create a potion for him. Having heard the rumors of how dangerous it was to linger in this particular part of the forest after dark, Gunji decided to venture out into the darkness on his own.
Normally, he would have employed the use of his righthand man but he was currently on a different job for Gunji. Since time was of the essence, this had become a necessity. The boy they captured over the weekend was proving quite... annoying and the errand boy that Gunji tried to contact ended up leading Gunji to a wrong number.
Either the errand boy succumbed to one of the other vampires in the Blood Ring or he was trying to hide from him.
Gunji wasn't happy about either outcome.
The mushrooms he was searching for were supposed to be close to the trunks of hemlock trees. Gunji approached one and he knelt down. Mushrooms.
He was just reaching out to pluck one from the ground when he heard the barest rustle in the underbrush nearby. Gunji froze in place. His gaze slid aside while his head remained in place. He felt the presence near him.
"Hello," he said softly, pleasantly, as if he were taking a stroll and casually managed to run into an old friend. However, he didn't know this person. All he knew was that he had the smell of wolf on him.
Vampire.
Jae lifted his head from his grisly feast, almost delicately licking the blood and gore that festooned his lips and chin. He carelessly dropped the carcass with a light thud and stood to full height on his long, powerful back legs, sniffing the air.
Vampire.
He would have smiled, had wolves the ability to. Instead he loped away from the body of the first vampire who had unwittingly wandered into his territory, knowing that he would be able to retrieve it later by scent. No one else would dare cheat him of his meal; he was lord and king here.
It was his lucky day. Two vampires, in quick succession, and both his. Now that he wasn't quite so ravenous--the first having appeased his bottomless hunger somewhat--his thoughts turned to other avenues of pleasure. Perhaps he would capture this second one and keep it fresh for a while longer. Stale meat made for a passable meal but live prey was a feast indeed.
Shortly before he broke through the trees, Jae shifted back into human form. The trousers that he once wore hung in tatters about his hips; he carelessly let them remain where they were, heedless of the disheveled appearance that he presented. Once, he would have cared greatly about the state of his clothes or the cut and style of his hair. Now his only priority was food.
"Hi." His voice was husky from long disuse. Not many people visited him. Occasionally his parents dropped off supplies but they knew better than to stray too close. Jae smiled and there was something not entirely civilized in it. "Nice night, isn't it?" His dark eyes slid up and down, taking in the vampire and the mushrooms that he had in hand.
How nice--the main course came with its own appetizer.
Slowly, he rose, slipping the mushrooms he'd picked into his satchel. No wonder none of his errand boys came back. There were stories about going this deep in the woods but Gunji never took them all that seriously. Whatever was out here, he felt he could handle. He might not be the oldest vampire on the block but he still had a few centuries worth of experience in the world.
The werewolf that stood before him looked disheveled. Gunji smelled the scent of blood on him. Flicking his gaze upward through the canopy of trees, he found he wasn't that worried. It was not a full moon so whomever this was, he wasn't completely lacking control of his human side.
Since Gunji got what he came for, he found no reason to stay. The werewolf seemed to be standing there, waiting for his next move. Gunji kept his eyes on him while he stepped away.
"Goodbye."
"But you just got here."
The rasping voice softened as he stole forward a few steps, seeing the vampire retreating warily. He was right to beat a hasty retreat but it was a little too late, wasn't it? He had already stumbled across the bogeyman, looked him in the eye, spoken with him. Retreat wasn't easily achieved now that Jae had laid eyes on him.
"What's your hurry?"
All the while, he was creeping towards the vampire, bare feet cushioned by thick moss and fallen pine needles. There didn't seem to be others of his kind nearby; Jae didn't scent or sense them. It was just the lone, foolish vampire.
Yes, yes. He just got here but he was not about to spend any more time here. There was something dangerous about the werewolf's tone of voice, something that Gunji really didn't like.
Or maybe it was his stare. Gunji stared back but his ability to subdue and enchant didn't seem to have much--if any--effect on the werewolf at all. That was... somewhat alarming.
"I have work to do."
Work. Right. Jae believed that about as much as he believed that the moon was made of cheese.
He didn't halt his advance, though his steps grew smaller. His eyes bored into the vampire, whose gaze was locked with his, but these small tricks wouldn't work. If anything Jae's stare was a mark of defiance, letting him know that the usual enthralling gaze of a vampire would not work here.
That was one of the nicer things about the virus--it rendered most hypnotic attacks practically useless. Perhaps a stronger vampire might have had more success but this one, he was fairly young it seemed.
Suddenly, like a whiplash, Jae sprang at him, shifting mid-air into the fearsome black wolf that others had come to know and fear.
Gunji was really starting to understand what happened to some of his errand boys at this point. They must have met a bloody end at the hands of this werewolf. What made him impervious to the stare? Gunji found himself silently unnerved by the fact that he stared him right in the eyes and made it very clear that he knew what Gunji was trying to do.
He didn't bother to waste words on him anymore. In fact, he was about to turn around and leave when the werewolf transformed. It was so fast that there was barely any time to react whatsoever. Gunji lifted his arm up to catch the werewolf's teeth and he staggered back as the full weight of the large, black wolf collided with him.
While Gunji normally had the grace of any other vampire, this time it was not useful. He couldn't stay on his feet, not with an attack launched so quickly and so suddenly. He dropped down and he attempted to kick the werewolf off.
Using his body to smother the vampire, Jae clamped down harder on the arm that he had caught between his teeth. He felt the vampire's kicks in his ribs but worked through the pain, letting it feed into his rage and lust for violence.
Jae got to his feet and began dragging the vampire, back, back and deeper into the woods where his cabin was. Being much larger, heavier and stronger than the average wild wolf worked to his advantage. Not to mention, having just eaten, he was filled with renewed vigor.
He let out a low, menacing growl. If the vampire wasn't careful he would lose an arm. Arms were so easy to tear out of their sockets; too easy to dislocate or snap at the bone no matter what the creature. With a fierce shake of his large head, he attempted to do just that, to incapacitate his new prey.
Some vampires that Gunji knew would have fought tooth and nail. They would have been cursing and kicking up a storm. Gunji was a quiet man, however. He was not much for cursing and although he occupied his time with the Blood Ring, he truthfully got very little out of it. It was just a way to keep moving forward when all he really wanted to do was die.
And so, he let the werewolf drag him for the time being. He went limp and relaxed. Some part of him hoped that going limp would make him a far less entertaining catch. A bigger part of him hoped that it would end here, with the werewolf tearing him apart.
If he had to die after so long, perhaps it need not be so peaceful.
The docile behavior of the vampire unsettled Jae but he thought that it was another trick. Perhaps he was waiting for Jae to let down his guard, so that he could escape. Not likely--Jae's bite was firm and there wasn't much that could outrun him in these woods.
Soon they came upon a cabin in the woods, a lonely little affair of logs and mud chinking, with a thatched roof. He let out another warning growl and then, slowly, dragged the vampire up the two steps and towards the open door.
Inside, he let up pressure before finally releasing his prey. He tossed his head in the direction of a pallet in one corner, indicating that the vampire should move towards it. Meanwhile, Jae guarded the door--it was the only way in or out. There were no windows.
The moment he was released, Gunji sprang back up and he intended to head straight back out of that strange hovel in the woods--but he was met with the werewolf guarding it. He obviously wanted Gunji to slide into the corner. It looked disgusting. Gunji didn't want to be there. All he wanted to do was take his ingredients and leave.
For a long, long moment, he remained where he was, a foot or so away from the werewolf. He weighed his options--should he fight the werewolf or should he comply with him?
...of course he wasn't going to comply. Playing dead was one thing. Getting himself locked up in some whacko's cabin in the woods wasn't happening.
So he stepped forward and he stared intently into the werewolf's eyes. Why wasn't it working?
"...what do you want with me?"
Rather than shifting back, Jae remained in his wolf form and slowly sank down, eyes beadily watching the vampire. He growled as he spied what he thought was movement towards the door but the vampire only stepped towards him.
Even so, he sprang up immediately, letting out an aggressive bark, the fur standing on end along his back. He wanted the vampire to back up--away from the door. So, snapping his teeth and making short lunges forward, he tried to force the creature onto the pallet. He had to keep him there until the sun rose; then the vampire would be naturally trapped in the cabin, without much need to be guarded.
Ever since contracting the disease, Jae felt more at ease in this form than any other. He shifted to become a human out of necessity but as an animal, he felt completely in his element. He felt that he belonged in this form. When he zipped between the trees on a hunt or clashed against other creatures to assert his dominance, it felt right.
Why was he asking a wolf questions? What kind of idiot was he? He narrowed his eyes. In wolf form, if anything, it seemed like his charming stare did little to dissuade the wolf from parking him right here in this strange shack in the forest. Quickly, Gunji took a step back to avoid being bitten. Even at three hundred years old, the sound of a sharp bark and the baring of teeth were somewhat intimidating.
Or perhaps unsettling was the word for it. Gunji was not accustomed to this kind of behavior even from the most annoying of werewolves. For the most part, Gunji left them alone and they left him alone. They weren't at war like some teen movie. The wolves seemed to keep to themselves and the vampires only came out at night. The werewolves had more territory, more time.
It was obvious that the wolf wanted him to stay in the corner like a good little boy but Gunji didn't intend to stay here. He had work to do and his time was limited. He didn't want to be stuck here in this windowless hovel, especially not with a wild animal. This werewolf was essentially that, after all. He didn't seem to have much control over his animal senses.
Slowly, he stepped back again, inwardly annoyed that he was being literally pushed into a corner by a werewolf. He inspected his arm with disdain.
"If you're going to kill me, do it already."
Almost in amusement, Jae tossed his head from side-to-side. No. He wasn't going to kill him. If he wanted that, he would have finished him off in the woods instead of dragging him back here. This wasn't food--this was... entertainment.
As the vampire backed up and away from the door, Jae sank down to guard it, bodily blocking the way. The sun would rise soon. Then, he could shift back and speak with his new captive. For the moment, the only sound he let out was a soft growl, as his tail swished against the dusty floor.
The injury, the bloody arm with his teeth marks in it, momentarily attracted his attention but he wasn't concerned. Vampires had such good healing capabilities that it would be fine in a few hours. It was the other injuries--the ones yet to come--that he should have been worried about.
No. No? No, he wasn't going to kill him--period? Or he wasn't going to get it over with?
Internally, Gunji was tired. He was mentally exhausted but he kept himself going by setting up new and enterprising ways to keep life interesting. Being kept in a shack in the woods by a deranged werewolf was not his idea of keeping life interesting. Or he supposed life wasn't the correct term for what he had.
Since his gaze wasn't working and he wasn't a mythical vampire that could shift into another creature, there were few options left to him. It was difficult to tell from within the windowless shack but Gunji knew that he didn't have much time and he knew that if he didn't try something soon, he would actually be stuck here overnight.
So, for a long moment, he remained still, innocently enough. But then, when he thought perhaps the wolf could be taken off guard, he moved forward with enhanced speed, hoping his speed could match or best a werewolf's.
Jae eventually sank down to lay on the ground, watching the vampire through half-open eyes. He rested from the exertions of hunting the first vampire but didn't let his guard down. This man was not the first vampire he had caught; he wouldn't be the last.
He did anticipate the man trying something but not being sure what that was--since vampires' abilities varied--he didn't try too hard to predict his victim's next move. All he did was lay there, until the vampire sprang forward. He was speedier than he looked.
With a snarl, Jae was up, whirling as the vampire passed him and snapping at his heels. He lunged, tackling the man from behind and using the whole weight of his body to bear down on him, to get him to the ground so that Jae could drag him back into the cabin.
So close to freedom that he could literally taste it. He tasted the clean, fresh air, the scent of the firs and the hemlocks, the cool breeze on his face... and then he was abruptly tackled and taken down, smashing down hard against dead leaves and earth as he was dragged bodily back inside.
He let out a sound of frustration. His satchel fell away from him and lay outside even as he was pulled away. Quickly, he made a grab for the satchel but his hand missed.
Inside once again, Gunji twisted his body in an attempt to fight back. His hand shot up to the wolf's mangy throat. It was much wider than a human's throat. Not quite so easy to strangle.
"Is this about the mushroom?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Jae's throat was protected by thick, matted fur but even so, he felt the strength of the vampire's grip. It discomforted him and he hastened to drag the man back inside before he started running into problems. No, it wasn't about the mushrooms. Jae didn't give a fuck about mushrooms.
Once inside, he bodily hauled his prize back into the corner with the pallet and then circled him. Jae's bright yellow eyes were fiercely trained on him, staring him down and willing him to be obedient. They could do this all night. It didn't take much energy to pounce and sink his teeth into soft, yielding flesh when he liked the taste of blood.
But maybe. Maybe he should deter this tenacious vampire.
So he pounced again, closing his teeth around a leg and biting down hard, crunching on the bone to snap it. Let him run out on a broken leg, Jae thought--he would be impressed if the man managed it.
They could definitely do this all night, this back and forth. He might have thought it was amusing, if he wasn't so sure that something was wrong with the scenario. Playing with werewolves could be a fun pastime to wile away his eternal life... but not so much when it meant being locked up in some backwoods shed.
That was basically what this little cabin was, was it not? A shed? A shack? A primitive and small building with no windows and a single door. It felt like a prison. Was it just his imagination or was it scented strongly with the blood of others? (It wasn't just him and he knew it.) That was part of the reason he wanted to leave.
Part of him wanted to just lie down and let it happen but the pride in him was too great. He had to at least try.
Trying seemed to be on the back burner once his leg made a sharp and painful snapping sound. Little more than a gasp escaped him and he dropped to his good knee as he tried to lessen the pain radiating up his leg.
After a moment, he dropped down, back to the wall, leg sitting in a distinctly painful and unnatural way. He stared at the werewolf with hard eyes.
"Others will come to find me."
Jae bared his teeth in a snarl, the long canines dripping blood, in a display of defiance against the vampire's threat. Others? He didn't care about others--he would deal with them, too, if they were foolish enough to wander into his part of the woods. They wouldn't know the terrain the way he did; they didn't know about the hiding spots, the places where Jae might lie in wait to ambush them.
For long moments, he stared the vampire down. The leg jutted out at a strange angle but he knew that he had made a clean break. Jae was more than experienced by now in all the ways to hurt someone without actually killing them. He'd been brought here when he was little more than a teenager, still young and just beginning to develop signs of the virus.
It changed him differently than it did the others--the way it did to his cousin Reagan or to Reagan's friends. He didn't know if he was even a werewolf anymore, or if he had become something else. Something stronger, faster, better--the next step up on the evolutionary chain.
He sank down again once he was satisfied that the vampire wouldn't make another attempt at escape and spent the next hour silently staring at him. Then he saw it, the sliver of light shafting through a crack in the door.
Slowly, Jae rose and padded over to the vampire in the corner. He paused a few feet away and shifted back to his human form, with a painful popping and creaking of bones condensing and fur retreating back into skin. "Looks like you're stuck with me for a while longer," he grated in the same hoarse voice, rusty from disuse. "Your little friends won't be able to come get you until tonight. If they even make it to this cabin."
Mushrooms. As if this had anything to do with those. For a long, long time, it seemed that they sat there, locking gazes and saying nothing. Gunji had nothing else to say and his questions were pointless anyway. The wolf didn't want to tell him anything; not anything worthwhile.
He barely acknowledged the leg although it did hurt. Even now he could feel it knitting itself back together. Strange how the undead body of a vampire could do that. Stranger still how a werewolf could strike blood from veins of stolen blood. Did it even taste the same by the time it touched his tongue? His gullet?
After a moment, Gunji tilted his head back and he closed his eyes, swallowing. This was not where he envisioned himself when he headed out on this quest.
At the sound of the wolf shifting, he opened his eyes and slowly lifted his head. His gaze was steel as he stared back at him, unimpressed.
"Not all my friends are vampires."
A smile spread slowly across Jae's lips. "I could use a little variety in my diet."
He sat down on the cold, hard ground in front of the vampire, staring him in the eyes. Now he did feel a little bit of a tug--the human body was far weaker than the wolf's--but his altered physiology wasn't prone to falling prey to the vampire's hypnosis.
"What's your name?"
Sadistically Jae reached out to touch the broken leg, giving it a meaningful squeeze in case the vampire felt the need to be difficult. Behind him it grew brighter; the trees were thin right around his cabin, exposing it to full sunlight during the day and full moonlight at night
He did not have to ask what that meant. The wolf wanted to eat everybody who came after him. So why not eat me? Was he going to keep him alive while he ate parts of him? First his leg, perhaps... then an arm? He didn't understand why. Humans must have been far tastier than an old used corpse like himself.
There was no point in lying, giving a false name, or refusing to give a name at all, though he also didn't understand why the wolf needed his name. What was he even trying to do here?
"Tak Gunji," he said without inflection. Without taking his gaze away from him. The big, bad wolf.
Gunji couldn't even call for help because he'd dropped his satchel by the door. His mushroom, his phone, anything he could have used for help was not within reach. Now, anyway. Gunji did not look in that direction--in fact, he made a point of not doing so. He didn't want the wolf reading too much into his actions.
"Tak... Gunji..."
He rolled the words around on his tongue, savoring them. Tak Gunji. The vampire's name was Tak Gunji.
Jae looked him up and down, trying to make sense of his seemingly calm demeanor. Was he really calm, or was it all an act? Tak Gunji was a good actor, if that was the case--a lesser being would have been blubbering by now, asking him what he wanted. Some fought and he enjoyed those, up until the moment when he was forced to slay them or risk them running out on him.
"Aren't you going to ask why I'm keeping you here?" He smiled, not particularly mirthfully. It was more of a baring of the teeth; there was no warmth in it and it brought none to his face, either.
"Did I not already ask?"
Or did he simply ask if it was the mushroom? It seemed ridiculous now, that question. Why would the mushroom have anything to do with this? At the moment, it seemed logical enough; how many of his minions had been crushed in these woods looking for those exact mushrooms? It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to connect the dots.
The mushroom was forgotten in his satchel, however. If this had anything to do with mushrooms, then it was only to lure in fools such as himself. Why had he decided to do this alone? He was getting cocky. Ever since he began leading the Blood Ring, he'd become quite... confident. Perhaps too confident, especially judging by the way other vampires in the area treated him.
He was little more than a youth in their eyes.
How old was this one? He was just a werewolf. He wouldn't live as long as a vampire. He seemed young, rough. Probably a tortured soul. Less poetically, a deranged soul.
Jae's answering laugh was more of a harsh bark than anything else. "You mean your precious mushrooms?"
He turned to look at the fallen bag, remembering it just then. Unhurriedly he strolled over and picked it up by the strap. Then returning to his former position, Jae opened the zipper and glanced into it.
"You came for these?" He held up a mushroom, studying it curiously. Come to think of it, most of the vampires he caught, he'd found near the area where these mushrooms grew. They clustered at the base of a certain type of tree. Jae had no use for them--he was a meat eater--but why did a vampire need a mushroom?
"Why?"
"They're used in spells."
The mushrooms didn't even look all that innocent. They were quite sinister looking--an ugly dark and blotchy color, like a bruise stained with ink. They had fat, wide heads but long, unseemly stems. Really, they were the ugliest mushrooms that he'd ever seen--but at least they were distinctive, both to the sight--and to the scent.
The scent was something else. Despite the ugliness of the mushroom, the scent was sweet. A bit like the gentle perfume of a flower.
Gunji tensed as he watched the wolf with his bag. Would he find the cellphone and break it? What of the other items within the bag? He'd brought with him a few other ingredients in preparation. He was supposed to meet the witch after he acquired the mushrooms.
Slowly, he shifted his broken leg to test how well it had healed. Not quite there yet. It didn't matter, though. He could see the light through the door. He wasn't going anywhere for at least another day.
"Why then?" he asked. "Why did you drag me in here?"
He did find the cell phone but ignored it in favor of looking through the rest of the bag, mostly out of sheer curiosity than anything else. Maybe the contents would lend insight into Tak Gunji's reason for being here.
Or was he nothing more than an errand boy? Jae glanced up at him with an expression that betrayed nothing. He thought about the question seriously, for some long moments.
It was a compulsion. A desire and a gut-twisting need. Jae's appetite for violence was like none other and vampires, they were self-healing. Whatever damage he did would be mended over time, allowing him to keep the same person for a long time, to satisfy his perverse urges. The answer was both simple and not so simple.
"I just wanted you," he said at last, before bending his head to look through the bag again. He wanted Tak Gunji so he took him.
There were other ingredients in the bag, such as eyes of newts (common enough ingredients), along with his wallet, credit card, fake ID, all that nonsense. There was a book on black magic, although it wasn't of use to Gunji himself. He wasn't a witch and had no real magic other than the things that came with being a vampire.
No blood in the bag, though. He had to keep it cool and he figured he would pick somebody up on the way home or take one of his ghouls. The beauty of having underlings meant not having to hunt every night.
Although he did feed already tonight, that didn't mean he wouldn't be hungry when evening fell again.
I just wanted you. That was.... Gunji didn't know how to react to that. His visceral reaction was almost a raw, magnetic desire. But he quickly shoved that down. That was the monster part of him, not the logical part that still retained some of his old humanity.
"Because I was here."
"Not quite." He didn't explain. Gunji would find out in due course why he was spared.
Jae had extracted the ingredients, giving each a sniff and recoiling slightly (almost comically) at the scent of what looked like a desiccated toe. That was offensive to both sight and smell, to say the least. He finished looking through the bag and finally pulled out the phone when it buzzed.
He turned it on, annoyed that there was a lock code. There was a flashing icon that looked like a little envelope; he supposed it was a text message. Gunji's friends? Someone worried about him, perhaps? Or was it the person for whom he was gathering ingredients?
"Give me the code."
Not quite? What did that mean? The wolf didn't elaborate. In fact, he hadn't been forthcoming with any information, like who he was or what his name was or why he was out here in the middle of the forest. He seemed content not to share anything with Gunji, holding it all to himself as if he reveled in his secrets.
Gunji wasn't an especially talkative man, either, but he also wasn't in the habit of dragging people into a hut in the woods. His methods were less brutal and more refined in his eyes. Not all of his victims were willing but at least they were kept alive, more or less. Most of them became willing after a time.
He eyed the wolf. Was this his own comeuppance for that? To be captured and kept alive at the mercy of another creature? It was almost poetic.
The buzz of his phone gave him hope but not so much when the wolf demanded the code to his phone. Gunji didn't want to give it to him; he might text whomever it was back that he was fine and not to worry. Maybe the way he typed would be enough to give him away, though.
"It's 2941..."
For a long while, Jae studied Gunji. Why was he so compliant? They usually had more fight than this, even the fledgling vampires much younger than he was. Was there no drive in him? Earlier attempts were amusing--if futile--but now he was cooperating and Jae didn't know if he liked that or not. It seemed like a trick.
He looked down at the phone; another text came through with a low buzz. 2941... He could have entered the code, looked at the message, but there was no real point to it. All he wanted to know was if Gunji would give the code to him, and he did.
Carelessly, Jae snapped the phone in half. Then he tossed the broken halves back into the satchel and slung that into the far corner; it raised a small cloud of dust as it landed.
"I'm going out. Don't try to run unless you want to get fried."
No. His form of communication was taken from him, just like that. The only other option was to try and telepathically reach out to one of his ghouls--and hope it was one of the stronger ones.
Settling against the corner, he watched the wolf with the intense eyes of a wary predator waiting for the right opportunity to attack. If the wolf was planning to attack, however, he changed his mind. Instead, he announced that he was leaving. Hope rose--until he realized that he was trapped until the sun came down.
Clever bastard.
He didn't say it aloud--only watched the wolf as he left.
It had only been a day Gunji was missing, Chul Soo knew something had happened when he didn't return. He didn't send some worthless minions after him, he was the one going to look for Gunji and bring him back.
Whoever took Gunji just landed themselves a death wish. Chul Soo was enraged this happened he felt guilty somehow. He felt like he let Gunji down like he should have known something was going to happen to him and let him down by not being there.
He was able to track Gunji from his last known location and made his way him. He scouted out the cabin from afar once the coast was clear he ran over to the cabin and slowly opened the door. He saw Gunjiin the corner and rushed over.
"Gunji! Are you okay? I'm here to get you out of here." He knelt down to look at Genji's face to make sure he was okay. His hands gently rubbing his back to comfort him. "I came as soon as you didn't answer me, I am sorry I took this long, are you okay?"
Chul Soo looked Gunji over to make sure he wasn't hurt.
Whatever the wolf planned to do, it did not happen. It would not happen, as long as Gunji had his loyal following--and his loyal partner. Without a way to contact anybody through conventional means and no way to send a message otherwise, all he could do was hope that somebody would notice that he hadn't shown up with the ingredients and that he hadn't met with his black witch contact, Susumu.
So when the wolf stepped out during the daylight hours, leaving Gunji unable to leave, he wasn't sure what to do other than wait. He looked over his phone but the damage done to it was irreparable.
Gathering his things back together in his satchel, he waited. He waited for the wolf. He waited for night to fall again.
It was growing darker and he was preparing to have to fight the wolf to leave when he heard somebody approaching. Tensing up, his fangs slid down and he waited in silence... only to find a familiar form coming through the doorway. His fangs retracted.
"Chul Soo ssi," he said, surprised somehow to see him there. Immediately he sprang toward him and looked past him at the forest.
"You didn't see any wolves, did you?"
Looking back out the opened door then back to Gunji with narrow eyes, "No I didn't see any wolves, is that who took you?" He barked, the thought of someone taking or hurting Gungi infuriated him he wanted to kill this wolf.
"Let's get you home before the wolf comes back." Chul Soo knew the wolf could come back at any time and he wanted to wait but getting Gunji out of there was more important he would ask more question once they were safe.
Chul Soo was very protective of Gunji he always had been he knew he could take care of himself but Chul Soo needed to be needed.
"Yes," he said. Some kind of rabid wolf. It seemed like it was half out of its mind. No, no... it was quite sane. There was a sharp intelligence in his eyes. But there was something distinctly wild about him, as if he could snap into a feral rage without notice.
Hefting the satchel over his shoulder, he grunted, looking down at the leg he hadn't used in the springing forward. It must have looked awkward but it had mostly healed by now.
"Hope you parked up close," he said, which wasn't possible because they were deep, deep in this forest. For once, Gunji wished the tales of vampires becoming bats were true. He'd love to not have to walk on that damnable leg.
"That wolf shredded my leg."
"Let me help you," He swooped Gunji up wrapping his arm around him. With his other hand, he grabbed his satchel and swung it over his shoulder.
He couldn't help to chuckle, he wished he could have parked close too. "Let's get out of here," he said in a deep voice. He helped Gunji was they made their way out of the woods. The wolf could return at any time and he already wounded Gunji.
Chul Soo was ready to kill for Gunji, he does regularly but he wanted to get him out of there first. Once he knew he was safe he was going to go after this wolf. He would kill every wolf in Evermore if he had too.
"Can you make it back?" He asked concerned with his current state and how long it would take to get to his car.
Chul Soo was very pissed Gunji went missing and the more he was learning he grew very angry he was trying not to lose control. He had to keep focused on their surroundings and make sure the wolf or anything came up on them.
It was getting darker by the moment and that's when the creeps came out to play.
"O...okay."
The fact that he'd just been swept off his feet by his vampire companion was a little sudden and odd. He felt like a princess in a fantasy drama. He wasn't going to fight it or argue, though. He was tired, having not really slept through the day--and he was weak. He needed blood to help with the wounds.
"Yes," he said, hoping that would mean Chul Soo would let him down and walk for himself. As long as they were a good distance away, he was hoping they'd get away. Plus, there were two of them and only one wolf. (He hoped.) The wolf would be much faster than Gunji but at least Chul Soo would be a match for him.
"He busted my phone," he explained. "Or I would have contacted you."
Yes he was carrying Gunji it was silly of him but he needed to get him out of there and fast. He held on to him for a while he looked down at him with a caring smile. "It's okay Gunji," He gave him a squeeze, "I know you tried. I came as soon as I could."
Panting as they made their way they were about half way and his legs and arms were becoming weak. He wouldn't be able to fight off the wolf if he kept up.
He stopped and gently placed Gunji's feet on the ground. "Okay, I am going to have to let you walk the rest of the way.
Stretching his stiff muscles. "You think you can manage, we've been safe this long maybe it backed off? But we need to stay vigilant."
"Yes."
He could manage the rest of the way. He carefully stepped forward. Yeah, he would be fine. It was healing up as expected. Breaks took more time for him, as he was still a rather young vampire and his skills weren't up to par with some of the elder ones.
"Those mushrooms aren't worth it," he said in a flat, neutral tone as they began their way through the woods. Even as he walked, however, he was listening, waiting, half expecting an attack.
Gunji was quiet and didn't say much and Chul Soo didn't mind they got each other. They had a very strong bond. He felt responsible for him he took care of him and helped become the man he is now and he looked up to Gunji as his leader.
"Nope, they aren't," He patted Gunji's shoulder "Let's get the fuck outta here."
"I'm just glad I found you. Do you even know how bad I freaked out?" He looked over at Gunji and smiled. "They all said I was over reacting and you were fine. But I knew something was wrong."
Chul Soo did a lot of the talking between the two of them. He never felt like he wasn't listening or didn't care he got Gunji.
Sadly, those mushrooms only grew in that part of the forest so if they wanted more for anymore spells, they'd have to come back here. Gunji didn't think he'd be doing it himself, however. He'd send others to do his dirty work, the way he ought to have in the first place.
Gunji leaned against Chul Soo in silence, listening to him as they walked. He moved as quickly as he could manage with a healing broken leg, cursing that damned wolf. His arm was mostly healed but his coat had been torn up and was beyond salvage as far as he was concerned.
"Yeah," was his short response, but he meant it. Chul Soo would know better than anybody if something was wrong and Gunji was glad that he went with his gut instinct. Otherwise, who knew how long he'd be out there, at the mercy of that damned wolf?
He shook his hair from his eyes as they climbed over a hill and he could see Chul Soo's car waiting for them. Gunji couldn't wait to just lie in the back seat.
"Call one of the followers," he said softly as he approached the vehicle. "I'm going to need fresh blood. A lot of it."
They were in sight of his car and Chul Soo huffed, it was about time it felt like they had been walking for even. "I'll do that as soon as you get in the car we can maybe pick some one up."
He pulled his keys out and unlocked the car before he opened the door to let Gungi in he scanned their surrounding area. It looked clear he opened the back door and helped him in. He ran around the back of the car.
He jumped in the car and started it, "Call Elija," "Do you want to call Elija mobile?" Chul Soo said "Yes." The phone rang a few time till he picked up.
"I need you now, no questions asked where are you?" He got the address and sped off in a hurry to get to Elija so Gunji could feed. As he got closer he called Elija back and asked him to wait outside.
Once they arrived he pulled up front and stopped Chul Soo motioned him to get in the back. "Thanks, for doing this Elija, " He said as he turned back to look at Elija before he took off, heading home so Gunji could heal and clean up.
He wanted to talk to Gunji about what happened but only after he rested.
On the drive to Elija's place, he closed his eyes. He felt tired although so little had happened. It was his mind. His head felt tired, muzzy. It was probably just the wounds and the tension from being heard hostage for whatever reason. His eyes half opened as they drove in silence and he wondered what the wolf wanted with him. You, he said. The sound of it still made his insides boil with... something.
Sighing, he laid back and waited until Elija entered the vehicle. Since he already felt rather faint and unwell, Gunji drew Elija closer to take a taste.
The best part of their Blood Ring was the fact that they had faithful followers like Elija to call in a pinch. It meant no hunting. It meant willing people who worked for them. Sometimes there was a little compelling on the more difficult ones but for the most part, Gunji had a particular distaste for having to use it.
There was enough from Elija to tide him over to the drive home and he was able to get out of the vehicle on his own feet. He looked down at his leg. The blood helped him heal faster and the leg already felt infinitely better.
Chul Soo handed Elijah some cash and had a driver come get him to take him home after his services. He then walked around the car to Gunji.
"Let me help you to your room." He held his arm out for Gunji to take ahold of. The two walked up the driveway to the front door. Chul Soo opened the door and flipped the lights on.
"I'll draw you a bath," his voice was low, he was relieved Gunji was home but disappointed in himself for letting him go without his back up.
He headed up the right side of the double staircase to the hall bathroom. He started the water then went to Gunji's room and grabbed his robe.
Checking the temperature of the water he shut it off and added some lavender oil to the water.
He nodded as Chul Soo offered to help him to his room. Once he was left alone in the room, he stripped down and looked over his leg. It was healing nicely now that he'd had a blood meal but it was still not fully recovered. The knee was especially brutalized, bright purple and ugly to look at.
Gunji looked up when Chul Soo came into the room, but only to grab his robe and head back into the adjacent bathroom. He raised his brows very slightly, then looked back down at his leg. It would probably be healed up by the next day. Slowly, he rose up and made his way into the bathroom so that he could get into the warm bath.
"You didn't have to," he said as he sank into the water. It had taken him some time to get used to the feeling of a warm bath against his cold skin. Vampires were naturally cold creatures. Dead. Not alive. But the warmth of the water flushed the skin with his borrowed blood and it made him feel... more alive.
"But thank you."
Chul Soo brushed Gunji's bangs from his forehead so he could see his eyes,"I'd do anything for you," is all he said before he walked out of the bathroom leaving Gunji to relax and recover.
It wasn't how much they said to each other it was what they said. Chul Soo looked after Gunji still to this day even after they killed their sire. He now did it for his own selfish reasons. He couldn't let Gunji kill himself.
He was the one and only thing that made him happy. He didn't want to ever replace Gunji but he would. Chul Soo was in it for the long hall he had lived through so much and advanced.
He did his best to make Gunji happy in any way he could. He wanted him to find a reason to keep going. he didn't want him to grow bored with life and see no point in going on.
He spoiled him in all reality outsiders would say it should be reversed and Gunji takes care of Chul Soo, seeing he is older. But he wouldn't have it any other way.
That's why he about lost his shit when he didn't return.
Chul Soo headed to the sitting room and fall onto the sofa.
I'd do anything for you. It was only a string of words but they obviously meant a lot to Chul Soo, who didn't often voice those kinds of thoughts. Gunji didn't either. He was quiet, soft spoken, and often had very little to say. When he did speak, people seemed to listen, which was how he ended up in his position, a little lord over ghouls and young vampires, over those who thought there was something ethereal about him, something worth following.
And yet... Gunji didn't feel it himself. He went through the motions of living as if he were still alive. He tried to amuse himself but he was lost, really. He didn't know what he wanted out of his existence except perhaps to be hunted to extinction.
Sometimes he thought what he was doing was only to gain the attention of those who would gladly put a creature like him out of his misery.
Once he was clean, Gunji struggled gracelessly out of the bathtub but refused to ask for help. He checked over his wounds again, then dried off and dressed in a comfortable sweater and a pair of flannel pajama bottoms.
He found Chul Soo on the couch and slowly padded toward him before taking a seat on the couch. He pulled his knees up to his chest, his head tilted back against the couch. His eyes half closed.
"We need to do something about that wolf."
Chul Soo sat up and placed his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together with his legs parted. He grunted and nodded his head, "I'll take care of it,"
He didn't know how he was going to but he was going to. He wanted to drain the wolf's blood from him and leave him to die. He was very heated about what happened. He wanted nothing more than revenge on the wolf that took Gungi from him.
That wolf picked the wrong guy to kidnap, he had no idea how protective Chul Soo was over Gunji.
"Just stay in for awhile till I get back with the beasts head." He stood up and placed either hand in his pant pocket. "I'll check the woods where I found you to start."
It wasn't his intention for Chul Soo to do all the dirty work but he supposed he would only slow them down for a day or two until the healing completed. Just because he had an accelerated healing factor didn't necessarily mean that it was instant unfortunately.
Right now? he almost asked but it was obvious that Chul Soo meant to hunt the wolf down that very night. Lifting his head, Gunji watched as Chul Soo got up off the couch, looking ready to kill.
"...be careful."
Chul Soo walked to the door and looked over his shoulder, "I'll take a few Shane with me as back up to ease your worries." He headed out the door making sure to lock it up behind him.
Before leaving he sat in his car and sent Shane a text to be ready and that he would explain once he picked him up.
He put his phone down and drove off, weaving in and out of traffic and speeding. He wanted nothing more than to put the wolf down so he could never go after Gunji again.