Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel)
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Authors: Zhu Hsia
THIRD VAMPIRE SHADOWS
ZHU HSIA
Copyright © 2014 KONG Publishing House
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This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real or dead people, places, or events are not intentional and are the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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Ver: 2014.01.01
« CONTENTS »
Warm. Sticky. Sweet. That was
how the first few drops of blood always tasted for Mun Oh. He had been drinking blood for over a decade, but he still enjoyed it as though every sip was his first taste.
Belonging to the new generation of bloodsuckers and being the youngest member of the most prominent clan had its fair share of advantages and disadvantages especially. For one thing, Mun Oh was raised to be straight-laced, phlegmatic and adamant. So naturally, like any other "prominent" family member in the world, he needed to behave himself in such a way as to avoid besmirching their well-respected clan. However, he was used to getting things his way and he often disobeyed the rules just to satisfy his ego. He was very inconsiderate and never listened to anyone at all. Despite all this, he was still seen as being so much better than Ji Sun—his only sister, who was called "somewhat rebellious" by their own parents.
It was not as if they were being held by the neck; it was just that Ji Sun was never really proud of being a bloodsucker to begin with. She did not necessarily abhor it, nor was she ashamed of it in any way, she just wished, more than anything else, to be an ordinary human. Despite the fact that their parents were totally against it, she exposed herself to the human world at a very young age and constantly researched them and eventually mingled with them. At first, she was merely fascinated by the difference between
their kind
and
her kind
. But then her fascination turned into obsession, and soon, she was more human than anyone in their clan.
Although there were really no rules restricting bloodsuckers from mingling with humans, mainly because they were living in the human world, bloodsuckers were still required to distance themselves from humans. It had long been proven how cruel and barbaric humans could be whenever they discovered anything or anyone that deviated from the norms of their society and what they viewed as "reality."
A bloodsucker is like the distant cousin of a vampire
. While the latter had been portrayed by humans in a thousand different ways, bloodsuckers were a rare kind that never wished to share the limelight with so-called vampires, or even be identified as one of them. The similarity between them ended in their constant need to suck a human's blood. There are only five things you need to know about bloodsuckers.
First, they possess the ability to obliterate the memory of the human whose blood they have sucked. The moment they finished sucking even a measly amount of blood from a human, his or her recollections of everything about the bloodsucker is instantaneously replaced with a substitute memory, therefore making the bloodsucker absolutely invisible to his
victim.
Second, they are to continue their bloodline either by marrying another bloodsucker or by transforming a human into a bloodsucker through the
"Ritual of Sacrifice.
" The latter can only be done if the elders in the clan give their approval based on the test of loyalty that the human must undergo. However, the human is deemed only a "
Kala
Haffi
,
"
meaning that he or she does not possess the pure blood and qualities of a bloodsucker.
Third, they follow the Rule of Thirds, which is a rule shrouded in mystery and passed from generation to generation only by word of mouth. It is so secret that only the heir to the clan is allowed to hear it directly from the elders in his family.
Fourth, a bloodsucker can only abstain from consuming blood for two months before reaching his limit. Similarly, he can only consume as much as one glass of blood per day regardless of the number of his victims; exceeding that will also lead him to reach his limit. If he reaches his limit, he will unwillingly submit to a long stupor that will last for a maximum of ten decades.
The last, and arguably the most important, fact about bloodsuckers: they
MUST NOT
, under any circumstances, bite a human to whom they have or have had special feelings for, no matter how serious it is or was. Willpower must be properly exercised in this situation, for these "special" feelings can significantly trigger a bloodsucker's instinct and desire to bite. One single bite can be seriously harmful to the human.
Five long years had elapsed since Ji Sun took her rebellion to the edge by running away from home to live in another country and taking the remaining step to becoming an ordinary human. She was immediately disowned by the
Lee
Clan
; this gave her former position of heir to the clan to the immature Mun Oh. He who refused to be inferior to anyone, and who had made quite a name for himself as the most fearsome bloodsucker of today was now the heir to the famous Lee Clan. The only problem is that the code of the bloodsuckers clearly states that Mun Oh cannot become the rightful heir unless Ji Sun renounced her position along with her rejection of living as a bloodsucker.
The Ritual of Renunciation will shorten the lifespan of the bloodsucker and mark him or her with a stigma.
"I can't do that to her..." Mun Oh mumbled to himself as he stepped outside the crowded airport and flagged down a cab.
Even though he and his sister never really hung out or bonded as siblings, he did not have any feelings of contempt toward her. She was still his sister. He got in the cab, shoving his luggage in before giving the address of his destination to the plump cab driver. As the cab made its way onto the busy road ahead, Mun Oh sighed heavily, desperately wishing for a less complicated scenario. Of course he wanted to be the heir apparent to the
Lee
Clan
, but not this way.
The cab managed to squeeze its way out of the mild traffic easily, and before Mun Oh knew it, he was only a couple of blocks away from where his sister lived. It was his first time visiting her here, since she had constantly moved from one place to another over the years. However, bloodsuckers can easily feel if one of
their kind
is nearby. He’d learned from her letter sent three weeks ago that she was now happily married. Not really taught how to express his emotions properly, Mun Oh had chosen not to reply, thinking it would be better that way. Besides, he never cared much about such inconsequential matters. He couldn't share his destiny as a bloodsucker with anyone else.
His thoughts were momentarily cut off by the nasal voice of the driver, announcing their arrival. Mun Oh slowly looked to his left and saw a bungalow, big enough for four people, with a well-kept lawn and a green picket fence. Other than that, there was nothing spectacular about the house, which made him more vexed than he already was. He could not believe that one of his
kind
, particularly his own sister, lived here.
He paid the driver and threw his bags out onto the sidewalk before gracefully exiting the tiny cab. Ignoring his scattered bags, he skipped over the low fence and walked to the front porch in three long strides.
He banged on the huge oak door and was ready to bang on it again when he heard footsteps leisurely approaching. He smiled to himself as he recognized the unmistakable smell of freshly picked grapes that was obviously his sister’s.
A bloodsucker's sense of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing is a great deal superior to an average human's.
To a bloodsucker, everyone has a distinctive scent.
Mun Oh straightened in anticipation as the doorknob turned and the door opened, revealing a stunning woman with a mane of long, silky, waist-length black hair, deep-set eyes and a bewitching smile. A crease materialized in her forehead as she looked at Mun Oh from head to foot, clearly not recognizing her younger brother.
"May I help you?" Ji Sun asked tentatively.
Mun Oh grinned. "It's really been a while, eh?" he asked, amused. “Sister…” he added, rather seriously.
Ji Sun's deep-set eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets in shock as his identity dawned on her. She studied him again from head to foot, about ten times, before finally feeling convinced that it was indeed her brother.
She hastily stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind her. "What…? Why are you...? What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.
Mun Oh was a bit offended at her lack of hospitality. He smirked at her, arrogantly enjoying the effect of his mere presence, before saying, "I came for you. I need something from you, to be exact."
Ji Sun was still lost. "What do you mean?"
Mun Oh hesitated, but then ignored his second thoughts. "The Ritual of
Renunciation
.
”
"How long do you intend
to keep me waiting?" Hyeon Jin demanded of her latest victim, a trembling bespectacled girl in her first year.
"I... umm... because... I lost it..." she mumbled incoherently, shaking from head to foot. She was a couple of feet shorter than
Hyeon
Jin
, with long, wild hair and a strawberry nose that was getting redder by the minute due to the cold wind.
"YOU WHAT?"
Hyeon
Jin
bellowed, the vein in her forehead throbbing madly.
The bespectacled freshman jumped back a couple of steps in terror, tripped on a rock, and fell flat on her butt. Before she could get to her feet though,
Hyeon
Jin
was already pulling her up by the collar of her school uniform.
"Are you telling me that you're actually dumb enough to lose something considerably bigger than your brain?!" she asked, shaking her off with incredible force.
Although Hyeon
Jin
was a mere 16-year-old, her posture and physique epitomized dominance and she had an aura of exceptional arrogance. Her toned body was the product of weekend workouts at the gym and almost ten years of Taekwondo lessons. She kept her dark hair short and layered, and the layers flew in all directions.
“I specifically told you to fill up my special cup with cold bubbling water from that drinking fountain in the corner of the seventh floor lobby of the economics building,” she said through gritted teeth, her voice filled with fury and her eyes narrowing dangerously.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to… to lose it. I just… The line was so long and someone pushed me, so I dropped it… and… and it was broken in half,” she explained. "I was so afraid to go back and tell you about it, so I tried to fix it for you, but..." she finished, backing away some more.
"You told me you lost it, and now you're saying you broke it?"
Hyeon
Jin
asked. "You know how much I hate liars?" She advanced towards her.
"I wasn't lying. I was just... scared of you!"
"Scared of ME? What am I, a MONSTER?”
The girl was now backing away faster as
Hyeon
Jin
took huge, slow steps towards her.
"Yes, you are..." a third voice said.
Both
Hyeon
Jin
and the terrified girl halted at once. The latter frantically scanned her surroundings, while the former merely turned her head. The park across from their school was dark and almost empty except for the two of them; the only source of light was coming from the tall street lamps. They heard slow footsteps as a face came into view.
"I see you still have a knack for terrorizing weaklings," the third speaker said quietly, placing himself in the middle of the two girls.
"What're you doing here?"
Hyeon
Jin
asked with a hint of boredom. She quickly recognized the guy's light brown spiky hair and the mischievous glint permanently plastered in his dark, slit-like eyes.
"Your dad's looking for you," he said. The mischievous look in his eyes was completely contradicted by the innocently thin smile that gave life to his facial features.
"And why would he assume I'm with you, huh?"
Hyeon
Jin
said, crossing her arms haughtily. For some reason, she now appeared smaller in stature compared to the newcomer.
"Beats me," the guy replied with a shrug. He was only a few inches taller than Jin, but his stance made it apparent that he was a year or so older than her. The fact that he was still wearing his school uniform over his house slippers suggested that he had already gone home when he had received
the call,
and he hadn't had a chance to change before searching for her.
"Maybe somebody told him we're still together," the guy said nonchalantly.
For a moment,
Hyeon
Jin
was unable to say anything, but her expression implied that she was having difficulty warding off a certain emotion bursting to explode.
"You!" she yelled at the cowering girl hiding behind the guy. "Get out of here. I don't wanna see your stupid face sticking out of the crowd in school, understand?"
The bespectacled girl had stopped trembling, but still looked as terrified as before. She peeked at
Hyeon
Jin
from behind the guy and nodded vigorously before scurrying away like a scared mouse.
"What an eyesore..."
Hyeon
Jin
said, turning to go.
"I was supposed to bring you home. Jump on," the guy said, gesturing to his bicycle.
"No thanks. You're not responsible for me anymore."
"Do you actually think I came here for nothing?" the guy countered, getting on his bike.
Hyeon
Jin
abandoned all attempts to argue, which was saying something, and got on the back of the bike unceremoniously. She wrapped her arms around the guy's waist, but immediately let go, as though she had received an electric shock.
The guy smirked as he stepped on the pedal and headed for the street. The ride home was short, cold, and quiet. Barely 20 minutes had elapsed when the facade of a bungalow with a green picket fence came into view.
Hyeon
Jin
hastily got off even before the bike had come to a complete stop. By the time the guy got off and parked his bike by the fence, she was already at the door.
She knocked loudly and urgently, loosening her necktie. The guy joined her after a few seconds, deliberately standing close behind so that his face was only an inch away from the back of
Hyeon
Jin
's head.
Feeling his breath on her nape,
Hyeon
Jin
turned to face him. However, she spun around so fast that she collided with him and they both toppled down, with
Hyeon
Jin
landing on top of him. As if that humiliation wasn't enough,
Hyeon
Jin
's father chose that very moment to open the door.
Kim
Junjin
was a short, gracious man in his late thirties. He had the appearance of someone who spent his entire life working and then stressing over his work once he finally took a break. Although he retained vestiges of a chiseled body and a handsome face, aging and everything that comes with it, combined with his heavy workload, had taken its toll on him. His dark, wavy hair was now streaked with a few gray strands here and there; the pretty eyes that
Hyeon
Jin
had inherited were now dull and lined with dark circles, expressing nothing but exhaustion.
At first he didn't notice a flabbergasted
Hyeon
Jin
frozen on top of the confused, but amused, guy. When he spotted them, he cursed aloud and jumped back in surprise. Instead of ranting on about
‘what the hell are they doing’
like any normal parent would, Junjin hurriedly closed the door, seemingly more embarrassed than them.
"I'm sorry... Did I disturb you or something? I can forget about what I saw…" he called out to them from the other side of the door.
Utterly humiliated and increasingly annoyed,
Hyeon
Jin
pulled herself up to her feet and banged on the door.
"Ha-ha. Very funny, Dad. Open up!"
Hyeon
Jin
demanded.
Kim
Junjin
opened the door slowly just as the guy got to his feet, shaking his head.
"Oh! Glad to see you again, Park Juno!"
Kim
Junjin
exclaimed, dragging the guy inside as though he hadn't seen both of them a few seconds ago. "Come inside; I just made tea."
Hyeon
Jin
blocked the doorway, obviously vexed, and faced Park Juno. "No. You can leave now," she ordered firmly.
"But I made tea!"
Kim
Junjin
argued, sounding like a three-year-old arguing about which came first: the chicken or the egg.
Hyeon
Jin
turned to stare daggers at her father before facing Park Juno again. "What are you waiting for? Money? The sunrise? I said you may go."
Kim
Junjin
gasped. Though he may have looked haggard and worn out, he managed to remain jovial and vibrant, especially around his only daughter. He cracked jokes every now and then and even got away with teasing
Hyeon
Jin
about her love life.
Park Juno shrugged indifferently, bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect to
Kim
Junjin
, and then walked away without another word.
"What… Ugh. Forget it,”
Hyeon
Jin
hissed, apparently caught off guard by his reaction. She was hoping he'd argue or at least say something. She immediately turned around and stomped inside, not bothering to watch Park Juno pedal away on his bike. Her father continued to stare after the guy, clearly amused.
As soon as she was inside, she headed past the kitchen, where her stepmother was busy making tea, and straight to her room in the left wing of the house. Just as she was about to close the door behind her and turn on the light, she sensed a presence inside. She balled her fist and tiptoed toward the center of the room, carefully avoiding the dirty clothes scattered all over her carpeted floor. She saw that there was someone lying on her bed quite comfortably. Without further ado, she jumped on the bed and started kicking and punching the intruder, screaming at the top of her lungs. The intruder fell off the bed and onto the floor, entangled in the blankets and pillows, where
Hyeon
Jin
continued to kick him hard. But the intruder was no ordinary guy.
It was the bloodsucker Mun Oh
.
Apparently having had enough, he grabbed
Hyeon
Jin
's foot just as she was about to give him a kick to the face and yanked it with such great strength that she did a full backflip before hitting the floor loud and hard. By the time Mun Oh got to his feet,
Hyeon
Jin
was already screaming for help.
"Shut up! Who the hell are you?" Mun Oh asked, massaging his left arm.
Hyeon
Jin
stopped screaming at once and stared up at him in bewilderment. "What? That's my line!" she yelled, slowly getting up. "Oww..." she groaned, massaging her lower back.
"Who are you and what're you doing here?" Mun Oh repeated, assessing her from head to foot.
"Okay, you have got to stop stealing my lines, you know!"
Hyeon
Jin
replied, taking one step toward him. "This is
MY
room. I
live
here, so you don't have any right at all to question my presence!"
Just then, the door opened and
Kim
Junjin
ran inside, followed by Ji Sun, who was still holding a teacup in her right hand.
Kim
Junjin
looked around frantically, ignoring the two people in the middle of the room. After making sure "nothing" was wrong, he faced an irate Mun Oh and a perplexed
Hyeon
Jin
.
"What did you scream for?" he asked his daughter calmly.
"DUH! Intruder—in MY room—in my BED! Hello?!"
Hyeon
Jin
exclaimed irritably, pointing a finger at Mun Oh, who merely rolled his eyes.
Instead of explaining,
Kim
Junjin
decided it was a good time to snicker, but immediately stopped when his daughter flashed him her
"shut up"
look. Ji Sun stepped in to explain.
"I'm sorry. I thought your dad already told you about him," she said nervously. "
Hyeon
Jin
, this is Mun Oh, my younger brother. Mun Oh, this is
Hyeon
Jin
… my stepdaughter."
"You have a brother?!" blurted out
Hyeon
Jin
. At the same time, Mun Oh said, "You have a stepdaughter?!"
Kim
Junjin
nodded, while Ji Sun offered a nervous smile.
"Dad... can we talk outside for a bit?"
Hyeon
Jin
said, striding to the door even before
Kim
Junjin
could give a reply.
The moment they were alone inside, Mun Oh grabbed his sister's arm and dragged her to the corner of the room.
"We need to talk," he said. "How come you never told me about that brat?"
"Well... I was trying to find the right time to tell you," Ji Sun said.