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The sweet and spicy smell of marinated meat sizzling on grills assaulted Namjoon’s nose as the doors of the restaurant parted to finally grant him entrance. People were packed into every available table, indicating the status of the most popular restaurant in town- if the hours long line hadn’t been enough indication. The night was deep now, the streets thin with the last trickles of people heading home after a night of partying and yet this place was still pushing against its maximum capacity.
His mouth watered as he took his seat among the throng of restaurant goers. He wasn’t entirely sure what had drawn him to this restaurant when the line was so long. Normally, Namjoon would opt for a quieter location, but he found he could not pass by the restaurant with its dim lights and big crowd.
Of course he’d heard of Thirst, but nothing about the restaurant concept or menu offerings had been appealing to him as he read an article about the new hit in town. He glanced over the menu and his brow furrowed. Only one thing on the menu looked interesting, so he placed his order with the waitress and glanced around the building. The other patrons were working their way through their meals, but Namjoon was surprised to notice how many plates were left unfinished.
He shrugged off the observation and pushed his black hair off his brow only for it to fall right back into place. He blew one strand of hair out of his eyes and accepted the will of his growing locks. His book kept him entertained while he waited for his own food. After it arrived he discovered why the others hadn’t finished their meals- the food was lackluster at best and even the rice tasted off.
How did this place become so popular?
He gave a friendly smile to his waitress who didn’t seem surprised to find food left on his plate and left money on the table.
As he moved towards the door a prickle of something slid up the back of his neck and he turned towards a hallway that sported a restroom sign above its entrance. He turned mechanically and followed the strange pull he felt behind his stomach. The bathroom door went unnoticed while his feet carried him further down the hall. The light bulb had burnt out dousing the deeper part of the hallway in darkness, but he made out the shape of another door at the end of the hall.
Even with a suddenly dry throat and alarm bells clanging in his mind, Namjoon’s body moved steadily forward until his hand brushed the brass doorknob. A quick turn confirmed that the door was locked but beside the door jamb just below eye level was a nail on which hung a key. Curiously, Namjoon lifted the key off the nail and promptly dropped it.
Cursing, Namjoon crouched down to search for the item in the near complete darkness. From this angle he could see a sliver of light peeking out from below the door. He found his quarry and stood to slide the key into the lock, then hesitated with this hand on the knob. Why was he doing this?
He shook his head slightly, feeling the fog in his brain clear slightly. He was standing in the back hallway of a business about to break into a locked room. Stepping back he gaped at the door.
What the hell?
Then from beyond the door he heard someone whimper.
In a flash Namjoon tossed all discretion to the side and shoved his way into the room- consequences be damned. .
The door creaked open dramatically, revealing a man sitting on the ground against a mattress which had been placed directly onto the floor. His shirt hung open, baring much of his skin to the open air of the stuffy room. His feet were bare and a beautiful crushed velvet robe had fallen completely off of one arm without the man’s notice. The stranger’s head was bowed when Namjoon burst in, then he looked up and Namjoon felt the air in his throat catch. The eyes that met his own were a rich mahogany color and glowed as if lit from behind. There were dark circles under his eyes and a decided gauntness in the sharp jut of his cheekbones, but he was still the most beautiful man Namjoon had ever seen.
“You’re new,” the man spoke into the awkward silence created by Namjoon’s open gawking.
Namjoon jolted, surprised by the man’s voice- soft and high, with a dark, honeyed tone that made it hard to think.
“I, what?” Namjoon asked, trying to clear his mind once more. It was as if the air in the room was tangibly thick, gumming up Namjoon’s thoughts.
The man’s eyes traveled all over Namjoon’s form, pausing for an unusually long time on his hands. There was a spark of something in the stranger’s eyes then he slowly stood like a cat rising after laying in a pool of sunlight- movements liquid and graceful. Something predatory sharpened his body language when he approached Namjoon.
The alarm bells in his mind were back, but Namjoon was frozen to the spot, watching the man approach.
“Not one of my captors then,” the man crooned, stopping short a foot away from Namjoon as if he had hit a glass wall. He was shorter than Namjoon, but his presence pulled at him so strongly that Namjoon couldn’t help but sway closer. They were only inches apart when the man spoke again. “Are you my salvation? My savior? I am so very hungry.” The last words came out as a moan; or was that moan from Namjoon’s lips?
Brought up short by the sound, Namjoon straightened and looked down at the man. The haze in his mind vanished at the sight of the man’s mouth. It wasn’t his full lips or the way that his tongue darted out to wet them that stopped Namjoon’s heart- it was the fangs that extended down towards that bottom lip.
Finally thinking clearly, he looked around the room more carefully. The room was run down with barely any modern comforts save for the mattress and a small side table that sported a lamp with a broken lampshade. There was a knock-off Persian rug partially covering something that had been carved into the floor. Namjoon couldn’t make out all the details, but it looked like runes.
Namjoon’s eyes slowly traveled back to the other man who was looking at him like Namjoon was a feast, which he supposed he was to this being.
Then the weight of the situation came crashing down on Namjoon and he stepped back through the door pressing it closed firmly behind his back. His ears roared with his racing pulse. He had just seen a vampire. A real, living- dead?- vampire. It did explain the man’s haunting beauty if legends could be considered true.
A thump sounded through the empty hall as Namjoon let his head fall back against the door. Not only had he broken into a private room, he’d uncovered a secret- one which he was sure someone would do anything to keep secret.
He stared down the hallway, mind whirling. Vampires weren’t real, so did that mean that the fangs were just fake plastic costume pieces? The runes gave Namjoon pause along with the man’s reaction to them. When the stranger had stopped short, it was right at the edge of the runes Namjoon could see, but he’d not looked down at all. The man knew exactly where the runes ended and did not move an inch beyond them. Was he bound inside that ring somehow?
Namjoon screwed his eyes shut. Was he really standing in the back hallway of some restaurant contemplating the existence of real vampires? He considered the state of the room- dingy and unkempt with a door that locked on the outside. Vampire or no, this man was being held against his will and that was something he couldn’t just walk away from.
Namjoon set his shoulders and opened the door once more. The stranger had resumed his original position leaning back against the mattress with head bowed. This time he did not move when Namjoon approached.
“Why are you here?” Namjoon asked. This got the man’s attention and he raised his head once more to study Namjoon.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“Answer me and I’ll answer you,” Namjoon offered.
After a long silence the man answered without moving from his position.
“I was trapped by a vampire hunter. Rather than kill me, he is using me for my magic.” The man slumped further down and sighed harshly. “He keeps me just on this side of starving to trigger my latent magic which calls mortals to me when I’m hungry.”
The pieces of the puzzle all snapped into place and Namjoon ran a hand roughly down his face. The success of the restaurant even with crappy food, the sudden desire to visit the restaurant even when he’d decided it wasn’t appealing. It made too much sense not to be true. Namjoon’s eyes traveled back up to the man’s- vampires were real and he was standing alone in a room with one. Still, this was barbaric even for a being he hadn’t believed existed until five seconds ago. This so-called vampire hunter called his restaurant Thirst in some sick nod to his own cruelty.
“Why not just attack when they come to give you food? Is the door the only thing keeping you here?” Namjoon asked and stepped aside as if he would allow the vampire to escape through the open door behind him.
The vampire chuckled humorlessly and gestured to the runes on the ground.
“The runes are enough to keep me here with or without a locked door.” He sat forward and crossed his legs into a sitting position then leaned forward. “I’m too weak to break it right now.”
“This isn’t right. I’m going to tell the owner that this needs to stop.” Before Namjoon could turn, the vampire was on his feet.
“No!” The vehemence of the word made Namjoon freeze in place. “All that will do is get you killed, idiot,” the vampire snapped then swayed slightly, sinking back to the floor.
Namjoon ground his teeth. Something about this man made him want to take action even if it put him in danger. That was a fact he would need to look at more closely later.
“What can I do to help you?” Namjoon asked tightly, trying to keep a lid on his frustration.
The shorter man snorted a laugh then grinned up at Namjoon from the floor.
“You can give me your blood, foolish mortal. If I wasn’t on the brink of starvation then I would be able to break these runes without a problem.” There was humor in his voice but it was dark and wry.
Namjoon considered this, then asked, “will you be able to stop? Or would you kill me?”
The vampire looked at him with brows furrowed. “I’m no fresh vampire. I don’t drain those that feed me, no matter how hungry I am.”
His voice was incredulous and Namjoon wondered if it was because he thought Namjoon was crazy for asking about his feeding habits or if he was offended by the idea that he didn’t know when to stop drinking. Probably both.
Nodding once, Namjoon dropped to his knees and rolled up his shirt sleeve, holding his bared arm out within the runic circle.
“Then drink so you can break out of here.” Namjoon’s gaze was steady and his face serious. He knew what he was offering and what he was risking, but he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t do something to help someone in need.
The vampire stared. First at Namjoon’s face then at his proffered arm.
“Why are you doing this?” The vampire asked in a rough whisper.
“For the same reason I came back. I don’t like seeing people suffer. Plus, the food here is not worth the hype it gets because of your lure.” Namjoon tossed in a wide smile and the vampire’s lips parted while his eyebrows crept high up his face.
“Alright, if you insist…” the vampire trailed off, then wrapped one hand around Namjoon’s wrist and pulled hard. Even in his weakened state, the vampire was incredibly strong and in a flash Namjoon was on his back and pinned under a hard body. “I much prefer feeding this way.”
“Wait,” Namjoon panted and the vampire paused, leaning back with obvious strain on his control. “I’m Kim Namjoon. What do I call you?”
A sweet smile pulled at the corners of the vampire’s full mouth and Namjoon had the wild urge to taste that smile.
“You can call me Jimin-ah if we are going to be this… intimate.” Namjoon’s entire body flushed at the familiar name offered by a stranger- even if that stranger was straddling him in a very suggestive way. Jimin leaned closer and for a moment Namjoon thought that Jimin might kiss him. Instead he did something far more intimate as promised.
The warmth of Jimin’s mouth ghosted over Namjoon’s jawline, lips brushing the suddenly hypersensitive skin of his ear before his tongue darted out to taste Namjoon’s pulse point. His heart kicked into overdrive and Jimin smiled against his skin.
The heavy feeling from earlier returned in full force, making Namjoon’s thoughts thick and sluggish. He recognized it now as Jimin’s magic and part of Namjoon wanted to swim in the feeling. When the vampire had been sitting down, Namjoon had not noticed, but now with the vampire’s legs thrown over either side of his own, two soft, round globes rubbed tantalizingly across his lap.
Jimin gave a soft gasp and pulled back to look at Namjoon with a wicked smirk.
“Hello, Namjoon-ah, I think we are going to have a very good evening. As much as I’d love to draw this out, I think we need to save this delicious prize for later.” Jimin ground his ass down against Namjoon’s growing hardness and Namjoon’s gasp morphed into a moan. The vampire leaned down to nuzzle the pulse point below Namjoon’s ear once more. “After I’m free, I’ll have to thank you. All night, in fact.”
Another roll of Jimin’s hips was punctuated with a sharp scrape of fangs over Namjoon’s skin. The combination of feelings was enough to send Namjoon’s spine arching off the floor. As he did, Jimin slid his fangs into Namjoon’s flesh.
The feeling was like an injection of narcotics directly into his veins and Namjoon’s mind went floating away. Warm liquid that he distantly recognized as his own blood trickled down his neck, a drop escaping out of the side of Jimin’s mouth. The air became filled with the metallic smell of blood and Namjoon’s eyes fluttered closed while Jimin drank. After a moment a tongue followed the path of the droplet and Namjoon felt his mind begin to clear. That tongue was slowly swirling around the puncture wounds in Namjoon’s skin, sending lightning bolts through Namjoon’s entire body. Then the tender ministrations stopped. He blinked hard and looked up at Jimin who was delicately wiping the corner of his mouth with the tip of his ring finger.
He locked eyes with Namjoon as he slipped his finger between his lips and sucked away the last bit of his blood. An involuntary sound escaped Namjoon’s lips and Jimin laughed.
The sound of the vampire’s laughter was silvery and clear and made Namjoon want to hear it again especially when Jimin lifted his arm to hide a smile behind the back of his hand.
If Namjoon thought that Jimin was beautiful before, now he was ethereal. His pale skin glowed and his bright eyes danced with mirth. Jimin’s lithe body still perched on top of Namjoon’s and the high that Jimin’s bite had produced was wearing off quickly.
“Did it work?” Namjoon asked in a raspy voice that he didn’t recognize as his own.
“Yes, you are quite delicious, darling. Potent too,” Jimin hummed, looking down into Namjoon’s face.
A warmth filled Namjoon’s chest which mingled with confusion. If he was free now, why did Jimin linger instead of running for it?
His desire to see Jimin free won over his desire to remain in this position and Namjoon lifted his hand to brush back a strand of black hair that had fallen forward while Jimin was feeding.
“You should probably go now that you have the strength to break free,” Namjoon breathed into the suddenly charged air between them.
Jimin searched his face with eyebrows raised. Then his expression morphed into something predatory and possessive.
“Are you worried about me?” He sounded genuinely surprised, but Namjoon simply nodded. “Huh, that’s a first,” Jimin said to himself then he leveraged off of Namjoon’s person. He offered a hand to Namjoon to help him off the floor. “The lure is no longer affecting the customers, my captor has more pressing worries with all the refunds being demanded and customers walking out.”
Namjoon barked a laugh and Jimin smiled, stepping closer until their chests were pressed flush together. He lifted a hand to trace gently over the part of Namjoon’s neck where he had fed. Sharp fangs reappeared and Namjoon raised an eyebrow.
“Still hungry?” Namjoon asked, feeling heat begin to pool in his stomach.
“Famished,” Jimin growled and slipped a hand between them to palm Namjoon through the front of his pants. Namjoon’s head rolled back and he pressed into Jimin’s hand. Then with a rush of power that sizzled across Namjoon’s skin and a soft pop, they were gone.