eight;

San narrowed his gaze at her, already knowing he was playing into the game like she wanted. "Or nothing. I'm not going to touch you like that while you're like this." "But Sannie... you know you want to." She kissed down his neck, hoping to coerce him. "I do, darling. Trust me, I do." He pulled away much to her dismay, grabbing her cheeks. "But if I can't even control myself when you're hurt, I'm not taking that chance while you're pregnant. It's not happening, I'm not doing this to punish you." She was pouting now, making him feel bad but he held his ground. "I know I haven't always honored your sanction, especially when it came to sex. But please honor mine. More-so because it's for your health and safety, and has nothing to do with mine." Eunha nodded in understanding, caressing his hands still placed on her face. "Wow.. I can't believe you're turning down sex." He was surprised by her reaction, only because he wasn't expecting her to be mad, but definitely wasn't expecting her to make a joke of it. San sighed, watching her smile mischievously. "Yeah, I am. So that means you can't use that name against me, got it?" Eunha gave it a moment too long for his liking to agree, making him smoosh her cheeks together. "Got it, fish lips?" "Yah! Alright, fine!" Her words sounded off because of his hand placement forcing her lips outwards, which he finally released. She rubbed her cheeks while he laughed at her for looking and sounding ridiculous. "Yeah, ha-ha. Laugh it up. We'll see who's laughing when you're begging me to even touch it because it hurts so bad." San just continued to laugh, his smile turning into a full smirk. "You forget I've basically got Wooyoung to my disposal." Her jaw dropped at his response, but not for the reason he thought it would—and what he was aiming for. "Don't speak of him like that! He's not a toy you all can just beck and call at will! He has a mind of his own." She swung at him continuously, still able to land a few hits in even though he tried to dodge her. He didn't have a comeback at first, only because his comment was meant to rile her up since he would go to Wooyoung instead of her, but he didn't see this coming. The corner of his mouth twitched, eventually stepping towards her until they were flush to the tree. "You know how I fuck, if I come to you wanting to rail you into your mattress, are you really going to turn me away?" Their lips were inches from the other, breath mixing between them. "What if Wooyoung joins?"        He pulled away, once again confused by her words tonight. But he didn't get much time to think on the offer because he felt this sudden dreadfulness of being watched. He didn't sit on the feeling or gaslight its existence, latching onto her arm to drag them away.        "San? What are you- Where are we going?" Eunha looked around them but didn't see anything and she hadn't heard anything, but that didn't mean he didn't.        "Just be quiet and stay close to me. We're going to calmly walk back, it's not far." Eunha pressed against his side, holding onto his arm with much more strength this time.        She looked around again, finally noticing several pairs of purple illuminated in the dusk. "S-San.." She knew immediately what the purple meant. "Just left of us.."

Now Playing;Harlequin by Unlike Pluto

       San turned in the direction she said, finally realizing the severity of their situation. He didn't hesitate to shove her behind him, sandwiching her between him and a tree while he contemplated how he was going to keep her safe against what he could only assume was three—probably more—hybrids that were gaining ground on them.        Eunha gripped the shirt on his back, slightly peering around his arm to see them come into the moonlight. Three large wolves—hybrids—prowled closer with their teeth showing and growls now reaching her ears. "San.. You can't fight them!"         One of them lunged towards them as a fake out, making the vampire jump and shove her back into the tree further. "I'm damn well going to try.. I want you to run. I'll hold them off long enough for you to get home."        "No, San! You aren't risking your life! Either we both go or we both stay." Eunha slammed her fist into his back at his heroic but suicidal plan, which hurt her more than him.        "I'm not asking! Fucking go! I can't protect you and be right at your side, that's putting you in the line of fire and I won't allow that.. Now fucking run, Eunha!" San pushed his wife in the direction they came from and tackled the wolf that tried to chase after her.         Eunha sprinted her way back to the castle, only worried about getting help before it's too late. Leaving him there was already going against everything she's spoken by. She tried not to listen to the screams omitting from the vampire she was forced to leave behind.         Leaves crunching behind her that weren't her own forced her to look back, finding one of the hybrids gaining on her pretty fast. All she could think was to wrap her arms around her belly, and embrace for the impact.         But it never came. There was a loud thump that sounded of something falling. She turned to look again but tripped on a root, hands instinctively coming out to brace her fall.         Luckily she didn't fall on her stomach, although shooting paints ran up her hands and knees. San had tackled the hybrid, and just a glimpse of him made her gasp loudly. He was bleeding excessively, chunks of flesh missing, clothing shredded, but still fighting as if nothing was bothering him. "Get out of here, Eunha!" She felt the tears prick at her eyes, pulling herself back up as San successfully knocked one of the hybrids unconscious, but immediately having to tackle the second one racing after her. The third one sped past the vampire who tried to grasp him, but the one he was currently dealing with jumped him again. He landed with the full force of the large canine on his back, now biting and tearing at his shoulder. But the wounds were nothing compared to watching his wife being chased down, and eventually tackled as well. Eunha let out a shriek. In an attempt to keep from landing on her stomach, she forced herself to land on her side—the side with the still sensitive rib fracture. A familiar loud crack filled her ears, and a horrid pain that made her cry out. And this time it made it to the ears of a different hybrid, as well as the sudden pain searing in his side. The wolf that tackled her latched onto the arm that wasn't holding her side and began to drag her away. She kicked and screamed, trying to hit the wolf but that only increased his bite force; to the point she felt the bone inches from shattering. San was fueled with even more rage at the sight of her in pain, shoving the wolf off of him. But the third wolf that he knocked out regained consciousness and jumped on him, the two now biting and tearing at him once again. He let out what only can be described as a war cry, but he couldn't muster the strength to fight them back or throw them off. He felt helpless, like the day they took her away from him. Made him believe she was dead. There was a faint howl in the distance, which perked their interest for a moment. A rustling of fast paced footsteps grew closer, until the slightest movement in the dark revealed another large wolf leaping towards them. Eunha barely caught the glimpse of blue eyes before it tackled the wolf closest to her.

"How is he doing?" Seonghwa let out a sigh, seating himself next to his captain at the empty dining table. "He's torn up pretty bad. He'll live, but it's going to take a few weeks—at least." Hongjoong looked down at his interlocked hands placed in front of him. "If it had just been werewolves, it would only be a couple days of rest." The eldest vampire tried drawing conversation from the hybrid but he could only muster deadpanning at the table. "Hongjoong.." "They were hybrids.. I don't.. I.." He got tangled in his words, finally meeting eyes with his companion. "I thought I was the only one.. I thought for years.. how is this possible? I mean.." "Do you think Soojin has something to do with this?" He scoffed at Seonghwa's question. "Of course he did. He's been the sole theme of our problems lately." He sat up, leaning back in the chair he was seated in. "But I thought Hyunwoo said he's been killing the hybrids over the years, why would he make more?" "Probably to get rid of us, then he'll dispose of them." Hongjoong leaned forward again, engulfing his face in his hands before sliding them to grip his scalp. "What about Zero? We haven't heard from him.. shouldn't we try to find him.. since he's your other half?" The vampire was unaware but he had slowly lit the fuse that eventually erupted the hybrid.        "What do you suppose we do? Go searching for him? We have no idea where he is. He could be dead. Or maybe he willingly went. Stop asking me so many questions. I don't know!" He was out of his seat in a blink of an eye, but the vampire had dealt with worse outbursts so he didn't flinch at the outrage. "I'm asking you because you're the captain! We've always looked to you for guidance and what to do next! It's kind of your job as the captain!" Seonghwa couldn't hold back. "I know you're going through shit right now.. something I'll never understand. But fuck Joong! San almost died tonight! He almost had her! Soojin almost had her! We have to do something!"