Chapter 4: Walks and Talks

No smut - 2.8k words

Joohyun mirrored Jimin and I for the whole day, earning curious looks from everyone in the college. 

"May I ask something, Joohyun?" Jimin started as we are about to leave campus. The sun is setting and all classes are now over so that students living off campus can get home before dark.

"Sure," Joohyun replied.

"Are higher vampires resistant to sunlight?" Jimin cautiously asked in genuine curiosity.

"Right. You've been with us for the whole day, walking around campus and even on the field, how come you're...?" I added.

Joohyun chuckled, "How come I am still not burned to ashes?" Jimin and I nodded. "Well, higher vampires can develop... a tolerance, shall we say. The older you are, the more you can stay under the sun. And we also just sat and walked and sat and walked. I wasn't really exerting myself physically, so that also aided in me not exhausting my energy. That's only reserved to higher vampires though, lesser vampires will always get burned by the sun no matter how old they are — reminds them of their place in the pecking order," Joohyun replied.

"What's the difference, though?" Jimin asked, her earlier nervousness now replaced with genuine giddiness in "interviewing" this higher vampire who turns out to be the princess of this city's coven.

"Between higher and lesser vampires?" Joohyun clarified and Jimin nodded.

"Well, we higher vampires are biologically born. Lesser vampires are created by us higher vampires as thralls, hunters to lure prey with."

"So that vampire you killed last night?" I queried.

"Was a higher vampire, yes," Joohyun confirmed. "But young and reckless, he created those three lower vampires to accompany him in his hunts. They got sloppy, and threatened to draw attention towards us."

"So you hunted them down," I finished.

"And found you in the process," Joohyun replied almost too sweetly. That would have made me swoon, if only it did not come from the mouth of the city coven's heiress.

"Why you, though?" Jimin asked. "Aren't there other vampires who could have hunted them down? The heiress of the coven doing it personally seemed—"

"Unnecessary?" Joohyun asked. 

"Overkill," I suggested.

Joohyun giggled, half sinister, half sweet, her crimson eyes flicking to the sunset as if savoring its fading light. "It was, but like I mentioned, I was bored. And father just lets me do whatever I want. At two thousand years old, probably only the royals of every race can pose a threat against me in a straight battle, and they won't attack me unless they want a war fought within Verrath itself."

I shivered at the thought of a war of the Night Folk. They're already frightening while they're peaceful, how frightening would they be if they let loose in an all out war.

Then a thought came to my mind, "If Seulgi hadn't been bitten and was in full strength, would she be able to beat you?"

"Seulgi?" Joohyun asked.

"You're already on first name basis with the detective?" Jimin queried, her brows scrunched as her posture stiffened slightly. Blood rose to my cheeks as I remembered how we lost control last night, and how she told me to call her by her name in the heat of the moment. And with Jimin asking me the question, my cheeks flushed redder in embarrassment.

"Yeah. It just... went that way... she saved my ass... and she said I can call her by her name so...." I stuttered with Jimin eyeing me curiously. I know she doesn't buy my explanation — even I wouldn't.

"Anyway, back to my question, Joohyun," I deflected.

"So it was that bear werebeast who saved you, huh. So Seulgi is her name," Joohyun contemplated.

"You called her huntress, I thought you knew her," I said.

"The Huntress, or Hunter, is a title given to exceptional werebeasts who have shown great prowess in all manners of the hunt. From tracking to trapping to straight up combat — and I have heard of a werebeast bear that became a huntress decades ago, I assume it is her. But if we fought," Joohyun smirked. "She had trouble with three lesser vampires and a young higher vampire." Then she said with chilling confidence it made my hair stand on edge, "I'll win."

We reached the campus gates and paused, "Well, we go this way," I told Joohyun gesturing to the direction we're going.

"Good, I'll come with you," Joohyun said nonchalantly.

"Wait, no." I blurted out and Jimin and Joohyun looked at me with confusion and curiosity respectively.

Shit — I thought. I looked at Jimin — how am I going to say that I'm walking Jimin home, that I want to walk her home, alone, just the two of us, without offending Joohyun.

"I told you not to walk me home anymore, Seren," Jimin said softly as I was still thinking. "It was because of it that you weren't able to get home before dark."

"Was it?" Joohyun murmured curiously.

"But..." I started.

"Seren," Jimin interrupted.

"I'll be walking with you so, getting attacked again won't be a problem," Joohyun interjected.

"No. I...ugh," I growled in frustration at my ineloquence, no, it's not ineloquence, it's cowardice.

"Oh I see...." Joohyun nods her head. "You want to walk her alone?" 

Jimin and I flushed. The hell — I thought — don't just blurt that out.

"No, it's really okay," Jimin insisted.

"No, I'll give way. I'll keep my distance, but I'll be watching both of you." Joohyun remarked coolly like it was no big deal.

Jimin looked at me and I think she saw that I really wanted to walk her home — and finally resigned. "Fine, but promise me you'll be home before dark," she pointed a finger at me.

"I will."

"And you'll send me a message that you are indeed home."

"Yes, mom," I teased.

Jimin chuckled softly while Joohyun smirked, clearly enjoying the exchange. "Well go on, you two."

"Stay out of earshot as well, Joohyun," I warned as Jimin and I started walking.

"How can I watch you—?" She yelled.

"Just watch, don't listen," I yelled back.

Joohyun rolled her eyes while Jimin and I kept a steady pace.