Chapter 4

The sun was setting over the horizon. The brilliant dance of lights in the sky were amazing to watch. As she caught sight of the sun, a thought occurred to her.

"Wait, how can you walk in sunlight? Shouldn't you, I don't know...," Nikki trailed off. She put her hands up and made a sign as if they were exploding.

Yoochun watched, clearly not amused. "Um, no," he simply stated, turning around, walking onward.

Nikki jogged up behind him. "Well, what about garlic?" she asked and Yoochun shook his head.

"Crosses?" Another shake. "Do you sleep in coffins?"

"Nope." Yoochun stopped and turned toward her. "Listen, all of that is folklore. You can't kill us with stakes through the heart either."

"Oh, so I can't be bad as like Buffy then?" Nikki commented and Yoochun looked confused. "You know, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Yoochun just shrugged his shoulders. Nikki shook her head. "Nevermind. So, what is true?"

"We can only be killed by cutting off our heads. Besides the fact that we're immortal, drink blood, and have fangs, we're basically the same," Yoochun explained.

Nikki nodded, trying to take it all in. "So, how old are you?"

"Old enough."

"Where's your family?"

"Long gone." He didnt elaborate and Nikki didn't pry.

"What about friends? Do you have any of those?"

"There is no one," Yoochun answered, a slight pity in his voice.

"Well, what about this place we're going? You can't be the only one," Nikki urged.

"There are a couple of people there."

"So, you're not alone then," Nikki said, more to herself than Yoochun. She felt slight relief from that revelation. "So, these other people, they're your friends then, right?"

"Not really friends, more like companions." Yoochun said. He started to move a little faster, gaining more distance from her, effectively ending the conversation.

"Well, I can't wait to meet them. They have to be a different kind of person to put up with you all the time," Nikki said and Yoochun stopped and turned toward her.

"What?" he asked, anger in his voice and his eyebrows downturned.

"Um, nothing," Nikki squeaked, regretting her words. Yoochun looked at her for while, before turning and moving on. Nikki exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding.

Nikki felt it best to not talk anymore, so they continued to walk in silence.

Their journey had been mostly in the woods, following a winding trail. Dense forest and overcast skies seemed to convey the way Nikki was feeling. She was getting so tired, and she didn't know how much longer she could last, but she didn't dare say anything to Yoochun.

Nikki was walking with her head down when she suddenly collided with a heavy mass. Looking up, she realized she ran right into Yoochun's back. Why did he stop? She was about to ask, when he turned around and put his finger to his lips, keeping her quiet.

Nikki watched as Yoochun stood perfectly still, his serious look worried her. He surveyed the area, his onyx eyes shifting in every direction. He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind a clump of bushes, pushing them to the ground. The sight before her caused her breathing to become erratic. She had yet to see Yoochun look so alert, worried, and it was wrecking havoc on her already tension-filled body.

Nikki could feel her heartbeat in her chest. The more she focused on it the louder it became. Her eyes darted around the area, but she saw nothing.

She wanted to ask what they were looking for, but she couldn't find any words. Yoochun shifted around and stared at her with wide eyes.

"Listen, in just a moment we are going to be attacked," Yoochun whispered.

"What?" Nikki said, a little too loudly and Yoochun slammed his hand over her mouth. Nikki could feel the warm palm holding back her loud breathing and she tried to calm herself.

"They are almost here. I can smell them and they undoubtedly can smell you," Yoochun said and Nikki would have been slightly offended had there not have been more pressing issues. "When I say, I need you to run. Run as fast as you can down the path until you come to an old shack. Knock on the door and tell them what's happening."

It was a lot to process, but Nikki nodded her head. If there was one thing she could do, it was run, especially with someone chasing her.

She readied herself, awaiting Yoochun's command. Fear was beginning to take hold of her and she fought it off. She had to keep calm. Yoochun was here. He wasn't going to let anything happen.

"Run!" Yoochun shouted, as he grabbed her arm, yanking her up and along with him. He pushed her in front, keeping on her heels. Nikki's feet pounded on the ground. Her breath came out in tiny rasps as she allowed adrenaline to kick in.

She scanned ahead, looking for the shack, when suddenly a man blocked her view. She halted in her steps and felt Yoochun run into her.

She stared at the man as he bared his white fangs. He had on a black suit and his hair was gelled back. She had no idea who this man was, but she knew she didn't want to get anywhere near him.

She backed up, turning away from the approaching threat and halted. There was another man, dressed similarly, blocking their other exit. As they were about to run another way, it too was blocked. Before Nikki could have time to asses the situation, they were completely surrounded. Yoochun put his back to Nikki's, holding her steady, eyeing each of them with an evil stare.

"What do we do?" Nikki said, trying to keep her voice from trembling.

Yoochun gripped her arm firmly, and bared his own fangs. Nikki turned away, too scared to see such a sight. All the vampires surrounding them did the same. She could hear the hisses coming from their filthy mouths and Nikki couldn't control the shaking of her body as she realized this was a losing battle.

Nikki wondered how many she could take out before they got to her. Probably none, but she was going to try her damnedest. She steadied her arm, calmed her breathing, and faced what was going to be the hardest fight of her life.

She eyed one of the monsters standing in front of her. He licked his pale lips and gave her a wink. Nikki growled deep in her throat. They were having so much fun with this. Her rage bubbled beneath the surface and she was ready to unleash it onto the first thing that came in contact with her. The man looked as if he was about to attack and Nikki put her arms up when suddenly he dropped to the ground, unmoving.

To the left, another dropped, then another to the right. Nikki's head searched the area, trying to find out what was happening. The vampires surrounding them were also looking for the source, when suddenly a commotion broke out.

So much was happening, Nikki couldn't really tell what was going on. She watched as the vampires began attacking something, and she watched them fall, one by one. She felt blood hit her face, and she looked down as a head of one of the vampires rolled toward her and hit her feet. Nikki jumped back into Yoochun, who grabbed her shoulder, steadying her.

She turned to look up at him as he watched the fight and Nikki was surprised to see a slight smirk gracing his features. "What's going on?"

Yoochun looked down at her and said, "Backup."

"Shouldn't we help?" Nikki asked and Yoochun shook his head.

"No, they can manage." He said nothing else and Nikki turned to watch the fight. Heads were decapitated, throats slit, and hearts gouged out with steel swords. When all the vampires had dropped, Nikki saw two people emerge from the massive pile of bodies.

They were covered in blood, but Nikki was able to get a good look at them. One was tall and skinny, but his muscular arms conveyed to anyone he knew how to throw a punch. He was wearing a short leather jacket and leather pants. His hair was cropped short, but it still fell over his brown eyes. It was dark, like Yoochun's, but very well kept. His styling also told Nikki that he took pride in his appearance. He wiped the blood from his katana and slid it into its sheath on his back.

The other was shorter, but he also looked very fit. His hair was very short, and a bright, white color, which took Nikki by surprise. He too, wiped the blood from what looked to be two hatchets, and slid them into his holster on his belt. He was wearing a tight black tank-top and black army pants. Heavy, black boots covered his feet and he seemed to enjoy getting dirty.

As they walked closer, the taller one wiped his face with a towel. "What the hell, Yoochun! We could have used your help," he said, throwing the blood-soaked towel to the ground in disgust.

"Looks like you two had it covered," Yoochun answered.

Nikki watched as the shorter one walked closer to her. "Hi, I'm Junsu," he said, as he extended his hand. Nikki looked at all the blood, and Junsu seemed to see her hesitation and he quickly wiped it off on his own towel. "Sorry about that." He extended his hand and Nikki took it.

"I'm Nikki."

"Nice to meet you, Nikki," Junsu said, giving her a big smile and Nikki couldn't help but return it. Junsu seemed to be the sweet one. Nothing like the brooding Yoochun. "And he's Jaejoong."

Jaejoong gave a wave as he fixed his jacket and tried to straighten his hair. Yep, Jaejoong was all vanity, which caused Nikki to chuckle a little. These three couldn't be more different.

"How did you two find us?" Yoochun asked.

"We've been tracking this group of vampires for awhile now. We saw them catch the scent of something, and then when we smelled the human, we started to investigate. And that's when we saw you two surrounded."

"So, wait, you two are vampires too?" Nikki asked and Junsu nodded his head.

"But, we're the good kind!" Junsu exclaimed and Nikki nodded her head. She had a lot of questions, but she was so worn out all she wanted to do was have a nice, hot shower and a bed to sleep in for a little while.

"Let's head to base," Yoochun said and they all nodded.

"Does base happen to have running water?" Nikki asked, hoping for a yes.

Jaejoong turned to look at her. "Of course. How else do you expect me to get this blood out of my hair?" Nikki couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth. She watched as all three of them looked at her, but she didn't care. With everything that had happened so far, she was glad that she was able to laugh for a little bit.

"What? What did I say?" Jaejoong asked, in confusion, which only caused Nikki to laugh harder. Holding her stomach, she followed behind them as they made their way to base. And for the first time in a while, she actually felt content and secure and like everything was going to be okay.

And then she heard her cell phone ring.