Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel)

by Zhu Hsia

  As her best friend, Shin Erin felt the need to pester and nag her until she spilled the beans. Unfortunately, all she managed to do within fifteen minutes was make her nod thrice and shrug twice. She only gave up when their equally listless homeroom teacher came striding in. Knowing Hyeon Jin, she decided it was best to leave her alone for the time being, at least until she decided to talk.

  During history class, however, something happened that almost caused pandemonium among the students. It made Hyeon Jin finally snap back to reality with a wide, toothy grin.

  She got the third highest score in their history exam.

  Although she wasn’t really that stupid, it was still remarkable that she got the third highest score in history. Hyeon Jin may have potential to excel in other subjects, but not in history. She hated that subject. At least, that’s what everyone thought.

  It was as if the good news about her history exam temporarily erased all her worries. She was back to being the Hyeon Jin she normally was. At that moment, as her classmates kept throwing dirty and suspicious looks her way, she wanted nothing else but to tell Mun Oh about it. After all, he had helped her… a bit.

  •••

  The two guys stood side by side near the school’s back gates, Mun Oh leaning against the high brick walls and Park Juno squatting next to him. The air between them was tense and awkward.

  “Park Juno. Why are you telling me this?” Mun Oh asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  Park Juno sighed. “I just thought you should know.”

  Mun Oh smirked. “Why would I need to know the reason behind her bullying? Do you think I’m some sort of a fairy godfather who can magically change her or something?”

  “Nobody told you to change her. You just need to know.” Park Juno sounded resigned, like he was weary of something.

  Silence.

  Mun Oh was still trying to process all the information. He still couldn’t believe she had grown up to be that kind of person just because of that. Because of her late mother; the mother he’d never get a chance to meet. According to Park Juno, Hyeon Jin used to be a weakling until a few years ago. She had been a dork, a loser--a nobody. She was someone who took shit from other people, someone who couldn’t stand up for herself, someone who constantly needed protection from the mean bullies out there. Needless to say, today she was everything she had previously despised. There was only one person in the world who would persistently teach her how to fight, how to stand up to all the bullies, how to defend herself.

  Her mother would always knock some sense into her, constantly reprimanding her for being weak. It was not like her own mother was bullying her, she just wanted her daughter to be able to fend for herself and not turn into a loser for the rest of her life. Her father was concerned enough to make her take up those taekwondo lessons at an early age. But it was her mother’s death that had changed her completely. Ironically, she had been killed by some local gangsters after she had helped out a kid they had been bullying. It was an accident; they’d never meant to shoot her, and the Kims had already forgiven her killers.

  Needless to say, it left a painful mark on Hyeon Jin’s heart and soul. She was never the same after that. The quiet and weak loser rapidly transformed into a mean and inexorable bully. Once she started bullying, no one could stop her. But for some reason, the people she bullied weren’t really “scarred” from the bullying; in fact, all of them improved little by little and drastically changed into better, bully-proof people after some time. Park Juno figured it was her way of paying tribute to her late mother. She just wanted to change as many weaklings as she could so that nobody would end up the way she had been.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Park Juno said after a while. “I would’ve stopped her if I could have.”

  “You haven’t answered my question. Why are you telling me this?” Mun Oh said, looking over at him.

  Park Juno smiled sadly. It was the first time that his normally mischievous-looking eyes were full of unspoken misery. “Because I’m tired of looking after her. It’s your turn. I know that you can take care of her.”

  “I still don’t get it.” Mun Oh might be smart and all that, but he was still a 16-year-old boy who couldn’t understand anything as complicated as love.

  “I’m not getting back together with her. I…” Park Juno stood up and leaned against the brick walls, too. “I’m dating someone new. And I already told her that.”

  Nothing much was said after that. There was really nothing left to say. But a loud crash reverberated throughout the campus, as if someone had just banged someone into a brick wall. And indeed, Mun Oh left an unconscious Park Juno lying in a heap on the ground, his nose bloody, his face a total mess. He could’ve crushed him to death, but he reckoned Hyeon Jin would definitely kill him if he had done that.

  As he made his way to the front gates, a familiar tingling sensation in his throat caused him to stop. A few students were passing him and some of them were definitely arousing the bloodsucker senses in him.

  How long has it been since I fed? Maybe all this traveling and fighting has made me feel all drained and thirsty… he thought, eyeing the students one by one.

  Most of them were couples walking hand in hand and girls in groups of threes chattering away. Just when he was about to give up and go find a catch somewhere else, a lanky, pigtailed girl passed him by. The burning sensation in his throat heightened as his eyes turned into dangerous slits. She was busy reading a pocketbook so she slightly bumped into his shoulders. The moment she met his gaze to apologize, she was instantly hypnotized; before she knew it, she was following him into a dark alley nearby.

  Hyeon Jin paused by the front gates, huffing and puffing after having sprinted all the way there. She didn’t know why she had to run; she just knew that she had to tell Mun Oh this great news as soon as possible. At least, before the euphoria wore off. Of course, her instincts told her that he might be at the park in front of the school, so she ran over there. No sign of Mun Oh. She went back to the front gates and started to think.

  Where could he be? she wondered, wiping sweat off her forehead. I swear he’s like a mushroom. He pops out of nowhere when you don’t need him, but he’s nowhere when you do need him. That pest.

  She began to head toward the back gates, somehow thinking he might be there. As she passed by the dark alley near the front gates, where fights and other student affairs took place, she clearly heard someone moan. Normally, she wouldn’t give a damn, since that area was also known as the “make out alley.” But there was something so eerily familiar about that moan. It was as if she had heard it before. Taking cautious steps toward the murky alley, she focused her eyes, trying to see in the dark. Indeed, there were two bodies glued together, not moving an inch. After a minute or so, the guy finally moved his head and slowly pulled away from the girl just as Hyeon Jin’s eyes adjusted to the dark, making her clearly see who it was.

  It was a good thing her reflexes were so much better now. Before she could even make a sound, her hand hastily clamped over her mouth and she ran as fast as she could away from the alley… away from the school…away from him.

  There was no way to explain how she felt at that very moment. It was all coming back to her—the horrible dream, the painful reality that he needed to bite her soon. She arrived at That Place disheveled and disoriented. Taking a seat at the nearest unoccupied table, she buried her head in her hands and started crying.

  Oh my god. I can’t believe how emotional I am these days, she thought as she sobbed into her hands. No! I need to stop crying, this is not me… Mom wouldn’t approve of this. With one deep breath, she made the tears stop abruptly.

  The small, plump, middle-aged woman scampered over to her seat and asked to take her order. She looked up and mumbled, “Coke” before burying her head in her hands once again. A light tap on her shoulder caused her to straighten up. It was one of the guys from the next table. He held out a drink in front her and smiled. The drink was inside a tal
l dark-tinted glass so she really had no idea what it was. Looking over at the guy’s table, the two other guys with him were holding up similar drinks and said, “Cheers” with the same smile. They were all wearing uniforms from another high school in the neighborhood and they appeared to be seniors. She turned her gaze back to the guy in front of her. He looked decent enough.

  “You looked like you needed a drink or something. Come on, it’s root beer,” he said in a very manly voice.

  She stared at the drink suspiciously. She might be disoriented right now, but she knew better than drinking an unidentified liquid from a stranger. One of the guys drank from his glass and motioned for her to drink, too.

  “Come on… it’s from your seniors,” he said with a wink.

  “Why are you my seniors? You don’t even go to my school.” She scoffed. But then she remembered why she was here. Why she was feeling so crappy. Without another word, she took the glass and gulped it down. The guys applauded her and the guy who offered the glass patted her on the back. The root beer tasted funny. It was root beer, but there was a sharp taste to it… as if it was mixed with something else. Her coke arrived and she quickly gulped it down to wash away the bitter and weird taste of the root beer. After paying for the coke, she knew she had to go home before she passed out here. But she now found it hard to keep her balance. She stumbled out of That Place, swaying from left to right, while the plump woman tsk tsked her and muttered, “Kids these days…” quite loudly. She only managed to take twenty steps away from That Place when a loud shriek made her halt so abruptly that she tripped on her own foot and painfully fell flat on her face.

  “Jesus! Are you okay, Jinnie?”

  Jinnie? Who in their right mind calls me Jinnie? She thought furiously, trying to get up.

  A hand reached out and helped her up. After dusting herself off, she took a good look at the couple in front of her and rubbed her eyes.

  Oh yeah… The only insane person who’d dare call me ‘Jinnie’ was my so-called best friend. She glared at a grinning Shin Erin. Her hand was linked with that of the guy beside her. New guy, huh… Hyeon Jin thought. Shin Erin only called her ‘Jinnie’ whenever she was around one of her many “boyfriends,” and Hyeon Jin had never bothered to ask her why.

  She would’ve ignored the pair of them, but something about the guy stopped her. She took a step toward him, until she was only a few inches away from him, looking up at every angle of his face. She heard Shin Erin mumble, “What is your problem?” but she continued to study the guy meticulously, like he was some sort of important artifact. He was by far the most decent-looking guy who had dated Shin Erin. He had dark, layered hair, which was pulled back in a loose ponytail, cute eyes, and he was two feet taller than Hyeon Jin. Something about his “gangly” appearance stirred a memory in her mind. Before she could say something, Shin Erin spoke up.

  “Hey, are you all right Jinnie? You look like you’re drunk or something. You know we’re not allowed to drink yet! Are you crazy?” she said in one breath.

  It was so like Shin Erin to assume things and say it out loud, not even allowing others to explain themselves. She rolled her eyes at her but stopped, realizing too late that it made her dizzier.

  “You… I know you,” Hyeon Jin said to the guy. He simply smiled shyly and nodded. He nodded! I knew it! She thought, scratching her head. I’ve seen him somewhere… She was starting to get all dizzy again just by thinking so hard, so she stopped.

  Shin Erin pulled her boy toy closer, as if the fact that Hyeon Jin knew him before her was something to get jealous about. Hyeon Jin took one last look at the guy but she still couldn’t remember where she’d seen that face.

  “HEY! Jinnie! Stop staring at him, he’s mine,” Shin Erin snapped at her. “Anyways, that pest boyfriend of yours was looking for you at school. And the girls were fawning over him, so if you want to keep him, better hurry over there.”

  Pest boyfriend? I have a… boyfriend? She thought, rummaging through her mind. She swore the root beer made her mind process things slower than usual. It was as if her brain cells were momentarily hindered or something.

  “We have to go now. My Jin Hwan and I,” she added, emphasizing the last words. With one last bow to her, the guy named Jin Hwan let himself be dragged away by Shin Erin. They disappeared at That Place and Hyeon Jin continued walking, or rather, swerving towards the school.

  Poor thing… I bet Shin Erin’s gonna be done with you in, like, a week. No, he’s quite good-looking and he could actually be gorgeous if only he knew how to look in the mirror. So maybe two weeks… Hyeon Jin thought, bobbing her head from left to right as it started to feel heavy.

  “WAIT!” It all came back to her now. Gangly boy, who could be good-looking if he knew how to look in the mirror! That’s him! The loser guy who dropped the books and… and…

  Her mind was swirling again, everything was getting blurry, but she managed to smile as she realized that the “loser” guy, Jin Hwan, had changed because of her advice, and now he was dating the hottest girl in school. Although she kinda felt bad for him since Shin Erin would probably just crush his heart later on. But still… She felt her body falling… falling into an abyss as everything turned to black… I’m so happy for him. Oh, I hate that root beer…

  Someone caught her by the waist and quickly placed her on his back. She opened her eyes and saw dark, wavy hair in front of her. Being in the near-drunk state, she stubbornly grabbed onto the dark, wavy hair and started yanking it back. The guy gave a yelp and tightened his grip on her legs.

  “What do you think you’re doing, big feet?! Stop pulling my hair!” Mun Oh snapped at her.

  She stopped, realizing who it was. “Oh. It’s you.”

  “I’ve been looking for you—”

  “Yeah… right… that’s why I just caught… you sucking some girl’s neck instead… of waiting for me to tell you the… great news about my exam… you… peeesssttt…” she managed to drawl out in between taking huge gulps of air. She now found it difficult to breathe, talk and think at the same time.

  Mun Oh halted abruptly and closed his eyes as if asking for more patience. She caught me again? Dammit. How come I didn’t smell— oh yeah, right… he thought. He let out a sigh.

  “What you saw… it was—”

  THUD.

  Hyeon Jin had banged her head against his, quite hard.

  “Oww! What was that for, you—?!” He took a whiff of her breath and realized his assumptions were correct. “The hell did you get drunk for? It’s too early for that, you dimwit!”

  THUD.

  Another painful collision.

  “OWWW! Stop it or I’ll—”

  “I’m NOT drunk!” she slurred out, her eyes stinging from the collision. “It was roof meen… errr… ROOT… BEER!” she insisted, tightening her grip around his neck.

  “Have you tasted root beer before?” Mun Oh asked, curiously.

  She thought for a second. “Nah… hey, you’re good! It was my first time to drink that! Haha.”

  THUD.

  This time, it was Mun Oh who jerked his head backwards to bump with hers.

  “Holy sh—”

  “Shut up! You talk too much nonsense when you’re drunk. Why’d you drink some root beer-disguised-alcohol?! I didn’t know you were THAT dumb.” He scowled at her.

  She leaned over him and repeatedly, but gently, banged the side of her head against his, hoping it’d ease the wooziness. “Some seniors gave me… said I needed a drink…”

  THUD.

  Mun Oh suddenly turned his head to face her, making their heads collide once again, with an agonizing thud.

  “Oww!” they both yelled.

  “Could you get any dumber? You should know better than taking anything from strangers.”

  She didn’t say anything; she simply let it go, thinking it was indeed stupid of her to believe it was root beer. The moment they stopped whacking their heads together, however, the thoughts and emotions that filled her up
a while ago came rushing back.

  “So you were looking for me? You still owe me lunch, by the way…” His voice brought her back to reality.

  THUD.

  “Dammit! I said enough with the head bumping or I’ll drop your big butt on the ground!” Mun Oh stopped in his tracks again as his head throbbed painfully.

  “That’s for ruining my euphoria a while ago,” she said simply. “I was just about to tell you… nah… never mind.” She thought better of it and decided not to bother him with something as frivolous as her exam scores. It’s not like he’d care, she thought.

  Mun Oh continued to walk. “What is it? You know I can read your mind so I could just easily—”

  “Yeah… whatever. Go ahead and read my mind, LEE MUN OH,” she said. “All you’d ever read in there are questions… stupid questions.” She yawned.

  Somehow, he could tell that she was not in the right state of mind to talk but he knew this was as honest as she could get. So he pressed on.

  “Questions like what?”

  She did not answer right away, and he was under the impression that either she had passed out or she just didn’t wanna talk about it. He walked in silence for a while, carrying an equally silent Hyeon Jin on his back. When they passed by the now-empty school, she started to speak again.

  “Why did you leave and then come back all of a sudden like nothing happened?” There was a hint of frustration in her tone.

  Mun Oh was taken aback. He had no idea that his being missing for two or three days had had that much of an effect on her. She must really like me… he thought conceitedly, but with a pang of guilt.

  “Why couldn’t you tell me everything? Why do you hold some things back? Am I not that worthy of your trust?” she continued. Although her voice was stable and calm, it was overflowing with the same sadness that Mun Oh saw in Park Juno’s eyes hours ago.

  His reply was simple. “There are some things that you’re better off not knowing.”