Chapter Text
Once every hundred years, a family was gifted with a miracle.
Once in the form of a baby, they were granted protection for as long as that being lived. The gift of music.
While that gift saved them from the demons that haunted the earth, it also attracted them. They’d wait until their little performance was over, then they’d take their souls once the barrier was down.
Every Gifted was bound to death by the hands of a devil.
They could not escape their fate.
And yet, Hongjoong found himself hesitant. “What are you waiting for, Master?” Seonghwa’s voice startled him from his daydreaming, his glowing red eyes turning to his fledgling.
He didn’t know why he hesitated.
Had it been any other human, Hongjoong would have been halfway done draining them by now. But he felt something special, tugging on his heartstrings as he looked at the man with reverence.
Y/N, which he had gathered from the others surrounded by him, was sitting on top of a crate of oranges. Hongjoong had stalked him long enough to realize that he sat here every Friday night outside his parent’s shop, singing old folk music and strumming his guitar for anyone who was willing to listen.
And while his voice left him entranced, Hongjoong could not bring himself to let Y/N meet his fate so young.
“He is special,” The younger man sighed softly, sitting on the bench across the street from the little produce shop. “I do not feel like feeding on him yet.” Seonghwa furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but sat beside his master anyway.
As he listened to the man sing, Seonghwa began to understand. Never in his two hundred years on this earth has he heard a voice so special, so powerful. Like a siren luring him closer and closer to the plank’s edge.
The man was just as beautiful as his voice. Strong jaw with a little stubble, dark eyes that filled with happiness every time some of the onlookers would come to join the circle forming around him. His hair was past due for a trim, but Seonghwa thought the rugged look made him appear more handsome in his eyes.
They could feel Wooyoung through their link the next second, growing restless in his waiting.
’How long, Master? I cannot wait any longer.’
One of their youngest fledglings. Always so eager, always so reckless. Wooyoung had been on the brink of death in his home in France when Seonghwa had given him the gift of life again, and has been making them pay for it ever since.
A little worm that ate away at their patience every single day. And yet, they could not hide the fondness they had for him.
Hongjoong let out a sharp breath through his nose, not appreciating the interruption to their leisure time. ’You will not attack him. Go find another pretty thing, yes?’ They could hear Wooyoung groan from the distance, leaping down the alleyway to chase after a drunken man.
San followed him like a shadow, bowing his head once at their sires before slipping down the alleyway. Seonghwa found himself smiling at the pair. Hongjoong had turned him out of pure pity. Wooyoung had not wanted to live for eternity while his best friend grew old and weak with age. So, Hongjoong broke every law imaginable to make sure they stayed together even through death.
“Are you having fun Master? Sire?”
Yunho rounded the bench, the brim of his hat shielding his glowing yellow eyes from any onlookers. His hand brushed Seonghwa’s shoulder as he did so, crouching behind the bench as he took to observing the man as well.
They didn’t respond verbally, but Yunho could tell how captivated they were.
Never in his life had he saw a look of such— content— on his Master’s and Sire’s faces. Like the man’s voice was soothing them, leaving them at a peace they hadn’t felt in years.
Yunho knew that he would do anything to keep that look on their faces.
“Should we take him?” They had never had a plaything before, but he was sure that this man would become their first. His hyungs deserved the best, and the best happened to be a Korean man who ran a produce shop with his parents and sat outside to sing to the children and men coming out of bars late in the night.
Seonghwa let out a small hum, first in thought, then shook his head. “No, not yet. First, we observe.”
Hongjoong was never good at just observing, and neither were his fledglings or coven members. Knowing Yunho and Wooyoung, Y/N would be in their home before dawn. They’d spout excuses to their Master that it was just because Hongjoong seemed to like him so much, that he looked at him like he needed him.
But they both knew that wouldn’t be true. They were intrigued, too.
Yunho nodded and rested his hand on Seonghwa’s shoulder, his fingers twitching ever so often; in what? Anticipation? He wasn’t sure. He was itching to just walk up to the man singing, to introduce himself with a bright smile only his members got to see.
He wanted to feel normal for one evening. Having human friends? Oh, totally against the coven rules, but he was sure his Master could make an exception.
They had long ago, and now they had their youngest, Jongho.
He had been turned about the same way as San had. Yeosang’s human love. It took years to convince Hongjoong to sire him. A few fights and scoldings from Seonghwa, and they had ended up with their last member.
And this man… Yunho knew that he would do anything to preserve the happiness his Master and Sire felt for him. Even if it meant taking the route of… unethical behaviors that wouldn’t be excused until centuries later.
San came stumbling back down the alleyway with Wooyoung wrapped around him, both laughing and smelling of booze and blood. “I’m bored Sire. Let’s go home.” The youngest out of them pouted, wrapping his arms around Seonghwa’s neck.
They got a few weird looks from the men scattered around the streets, and it took everything in him for Yunho not to rip their eyes out of their skull for looking at his partner like that. He knew only so much patience when it came to protecting his coven.
”I suppose we’ve spent enough time observing.” Seonghwa sighed softly, supporting Wooyoung as he stood up from the bench. He did not want to leave, since Y/N was only halfway through his song, but Wooyoung had began to get restless again.
Hongjoong took one last look over his shoulder, locking eyes with the man in question. Y/N paused his strumming, but flashed a friendly smile before starting again.
He wanted him.
And that want would be the end of all of them.