Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel)

by Zhu Hsia

  “Why don’t you tell me how you feel? Is it because you don’t feel anything?” Her voice started to crack as her eyes brimmed with hot tears. “Because I can’t hold back my feelings anymore. And I need to know… I need to hear it from you. I want to hear you say that you don’t like me as much as I like you. Just do this one favor for me and I swear I’ll stay away from you. I’ll even let you bite me and… and I'll forget about you.” She sniffed. “Stop messing around with me.”

  That last sentence somehow sounded like it was directed at somebody else other than Mun Oh. But his mind was too preoccupied to even care. Whether it was the effect of the alcohol or not, everything she said painfully tugged at his heart, crushing the air out of his lungs, making him feel more like a human. It was all coming back to him now: the “feelings” he had temporarily forgotten. The inexplicably blissful feeling that stubbornly settled at the pit of his stomach.

  The truth was that he cared for her. He cared for her so much that he was at a loss of what to do. He didn’t know how to get her out of this tangled, complicated mess that he had gotten her into. As much as he wanted to stay with her and tell her how he really felt, he couldn’t. Even if he could, he probably wouldn’t. It was better that way.

  Before he met her, he didn’t have time to waste on such petty matters as being happy, enjoying life, or simply being in love. He was, after all, a bloodsucker. He couldn’t believe it himself—a mere human had actually made him crawl out of his shell. It was not an issue of being “human-like;” it was more like being able to feel alive for the first time in his life.

  They now reached the gates to their neighborhood. Hyeon Jin leaned her face against his back and cried freely. She didn’t give a damn if she had humiliated herself until the next century by openly admitting her feelings for him and crying like a five-year-old every two seconds. Maybe she needed to thank those jerks who had given her that drink. It felt so much better to let out all her emotions when she was drunk. As they neared the house, she tightened her grip around his neck once more and told him to let her sober up first by circling the area before going home. He did so, all the while thinking of the right time to say what he wanted to say. They enjoyed another couple of minutes of silence before Mun Oh spoke up.

  “I’m leaving tonight.”

  Silence.

  He took a deep breath. “I’m going back home. I just figured… I’m bored here, anyway. It’s definitely not a good spot for a vacation, you know. And you’re not very hospitable, either. So…”

  He waited for her to say something. A minute passed. Two minutes. Three minutes… They circled the neighborhood once and Mun Oh decided to do so again.

  “Hey, are you listening? I said—”

  “I heard you. I’m not deaf.” Her voice was cold and sharp.

  “Then why’d you have to be so awfully quiet? It’s freaking me out, you know. Besides, it’s not like you. Stop pretending like you can keep your mouth shut for a minute,” he said in a light manner.

  “Look who’s talking. You’re the one pretending here, pest.”

  “Don’t steal my lines. And be nice to me now. I said I’m leaving. You’re never gonna see this gorgeous face of mine, ever.” He scoffed and then chuckled at his conceited little joke.

  Another long silence. And then…

  “Why?” asked Hyeon Jin.

  Just one simple question. But it made him stop walking so abruptly that they almost bumped heads again. That was the thing: he wished he could tell her why. He wished he could stop avoiding her questions. He wished she’d understand without him explaining in full detail.

  “Walk…” Hyeon Jin ordered him. He did as he was told, but each step resonated with the frustration building up inside him.

  “I told you. I’m bored here. My vacation’s over. Besides, you don’t want me in here in the first place,” he lied. They were in front of the house again.

  “Put me down,” she said. When he did, she glided over to the sidewalk and sat down. He stood beside her, not knowing what else to say or do.

  “It’s your birthday today. I’m sure Dad and Ji Sun prepared something,” Hyeon Jin said as casually as she could.

  “I can’t. They won’t allow me to leave. And I don’t wanna go through that 'saying goodbye' process that you humans invented… or whatever.” He jammed his hands into his pockets and kicked an invisible pebble, hoping that would end their awkward conversation. When she didn’t say anything for a while, he took it as his cue to disappear from her sight and this place… forever.

  “Well, I should get…”

  A hand grabbed his elbow. He turned around and what he saw crushed his heart into tiny little pieces. She wasn’t crying, but she wasn’t smiling, either. There was nothing but pain and desperation in her face.

  “Just… just give me another piggyback ride,” she said.

  He raised an eyebrow, but decided it best not to argue with her anymore. He mumbled, “You’re quite heavy” under his breath before letting her get on his back again. When she was safely and comfortably lodged on his back, he started walking around the subdivision again. There was nothing special about that last piggyback ride except for the inevitable misery hanging in the air between them and the sound of the rhythmic beating of their hearts, as if their two hearts were hurting and crying in harmony.

  “Park Juno told me he’s seeing someone new,” Hyeon Jin said in a surprisingly normal tone, as though they were having a normal conversation. “He said he’s never getting back together with me again. That jerk.”

  “I know,” Mun Oh replied.

  “You should’ve bitten him, and then maybe he would’ve forgotten that he’s seeing someone new and he’d probably ask me out again,” she said in the same ‘normal’ tone.

  “You can joke about it, huh?” Mun Oh didn’t seem to be amused. His mind was still reeling.

  Hyeon Jin giggled quite forcibly. “I think he just dumped me again. Well, he already dumped me before, so now he double-dumped me, huh?”

  There was nothing he could say to ease her pain. It was one thing to get your heart broken. It was another to get your heart broken twice in a row by the same person.

  “This is our last stop,” he announced, releasing his hold on her. But she didn’t let go. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck, although her feet were already on the ground.

  “You can leave if you want. I’m not gonna stop you,” she whispered. He could feel her breath on the back of his neck. “But the least you could do is tell me why…" Teardrops cascaded down the nape of his neck. "Because you know what’s even worse? You know what’s even more painful than being abandoned?” The tears wouldn’t stop falling. She tightened her grip around his neck. “What’s even more heartbreaking is knowing that I’m not even worth an explanation.” And with that, she let go of him.

  Mun Oh didn’t turn around to face her. Instead, he started to walk away. His nape felt damp with her tears, and somehow he knew those tears would leave an invisible stain in there. A stain that he would love painfully. A stain that would remind him of her for as long as he lived.

  After taking his tenth step away from her, he spoke without looking back at her. It was the least he could do to make her feel a bit better. It was now or never.

  “If there’s one thing I’m happy about, after all the complicated shit that happened,” he paused to smile as the first, and probably the last, teardrop fell from his eyes, “…it is finding out that you are my third."

  « CHAPTER 10 »

  How much time had passed since he left? She didn’t know and she didn’t care. There was a huge, empty hole inside of her and the only thing that kept her standing was his last words, which were confusing, yet somewhat encouraging. She had tried her best to make him stay, even going so far as admitting her immature feelings for him. But it was fruitless. He still left.

  Without even explaining anything, she reminded herself.

  She hadn’t moved from the spot on the sidewalk in
front of their house. The spot where she had desperately clung to him. The spot where she had watched him disappear.

  Little by little, the feeling came back to her legs and she felt more worn out than ever. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and brace herself for the looming confrontation with her father and Ji Sun. It wasn't as if she had done something wrong.

  “I told him to stay, but…” she muttered under her breath.

  “But he still left, huh?”

  Her eyes automatically opened wide as an otherworldly voice spoke just right behind her left ear. She did not dare turn around, for she already knew who that voice belonged to. Her heart was now pumping loudly in her ears, which was not a good sign at all. It was during rare moments like this that she actually did stupid and irrational things.

  “It’s been a while… human.”

  “Ha— Han Jung…?”

  “It’s HAN KYUNG, you stupid girl!” he snapped, quite irritated.

  Hyeon Jin’s blood boiled and every emotion she had felt moments ago was immediately flushed out, leaving only defiance and anger. Nobody called her stupid, especially not some measly bloodsucker messenger who was scared of someone younger than him by a few years. She turned around and shoved him hard.

  “Don’t call me stupid, you spineless bloodsucker!”

  “How dare you touch me, you filthy human?” he said.

  For a second, he looked as if he was ready to pounce on her, so she took a quick step back.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  Han Kyung eased up a little and flashed his patented Cheshire cat smile, as though they were playing some sort of game and he was winning. “I think I know something you don’t.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it. I know nothing. But I’m not stupid,” Hyeon Jin said bitterly. She began to walk toward her house, thinking it would be unwise to chitchat with this insane, nosy bloodsucker. At least, not without another bloodsucker by her side to protect her.

  “You wanna know why he felt the need to leave?” His voice was getting creepier in that “I-know-something-you-don’t” sense. She did not look back, but she froze in her tracks. “You see, little Mun Oh is in deep shit for the first time in his life,” Han Kyung went on, obviously enjoying the moment. “First, he let himself be discovered by a human, yet he did not even bother modifying her memory. I don’t know, maybe he just didn’t want to bite that human because of his stupid ‘taste’ or something.” Hyeon Jin clenched her fists and rolled her eyes. “But that was at first. Halfway through their little game of “bite-me-if-you-can,” I think the almighty Mun Oh became fascinated with that human. He was so conceited that he didn’t realize he was falling… falling for a HUMAN.” The bloodsucker smirked.

  She had no idea why he was telling her all of this. More to the point, she didn’t know whether she could trust his words. What if he was just making it all up? Trying to mess with her mind? And it was not as if she didn’t “sense” Mun Oh’s sudden change of heart. She was not really that naïve. She knew that somehow, he felt something for her.

  “So he developed these silly and immature feelings for that human… feelings that made everything oh-so-complicated.” Han Kyung now studied her with a slightly aghast expression on his face.

  She plucked up enough courage to speak to him.

  “Listen, Han Jung…”

  “HAN KYUNG!” he corrected. They were both irked now.

  “Whatever. Just tell me something I don’t know,” she said bitterly. “I wouldn’t be as confused as I am right now if I didn’t know everything that you just told me, right?” She turned away. “So do me a favor: stop wasting my time and playing mind games with me.”

  She was almost three steps away from him when he spoke again, this time in a dead serious tone.

  “Don’t you wanna know why he SHOULD but WOULDN’T… he COULD but SHOULDN’T… he WOULD but COULDN’T… bite you?”

  She wasn't slow, but it took a whole minute for his words to sink in. She seriously contemplated asking him to say it again, slowly, so that she’d have a better chance of comprehending it, but she didn’t want this condescending bloodsucker to think she was slow.

  “You’re not making any sense,” she simply replied, continuing to walk.

  “I am willing to explain, if you’d come with me to—” A loud beeping interrupted him, and Hyeon Jin didn’t look back but assumed that it was an alarm or something, probably from his cell phone.

  If he has one… she thought, chuckling inwardly at the thought of a vampire using a cell phone like an ordinary human.

  “Ah! It’s almost time for us to go…” he said.

  That’s when she turned around to face him, quickly switching into defensive mode. She figured that by ‘time for US to go,’ he meant kidnapping her or forcing her to come with him to some god-forbidden place and probably doing horrible things to her. She wasn't about to let that happen.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said, her voice slightly trembling as she balled up her fists.

  Han Kyung simply smiled his Cheshire cat smile. “Oh. I thought you were his girlfriend. See, you’re invited to his birthday party at the Lee’s manor. But if you don’t wanna come…” He shrugged. “I guess you’re really better off not knowing anything since you’re just a mere human, after all.”

  “Wait…” she heard herself say. Her curiosity was getting the better of her. She still hadn’t figured out what his earlier words meant. Something about the “could, would and should” thingy. A thousand thoughts were running through her mind now. She couldn’t think straight.

  “Look, I’ll make it easier for you. Just come with me. You won’t regret it.” For a moment, Hyeon Jin thought she heard sadness and sincerity in his voice.

  Before she knew it, she was hanging tightly onto Han Kyung’s back as they sped past blurred surroundings. Although she had already experienced this before with Mun Oh, she still felt uncomfortable as the strong gust of wind painfully slapped her on the face, making it hard to breathe.

  How fast are we going? And why is this taking longer? she wondered as she tried to open her eyes wide to see where they were headed, but miserably failed. Are we really going out of the country?

  Despite the grave situation, she still found it amusing that she would get to travel to another country for free. It was definitely a first. Additionally, she was quite excited to see what Mun Oh’s hometown looked like.

  “Hang on tight,” Han Kyung warned. He abruptly came to a halt. Hyeon Jin’s face painfully collided with his bony back, leaving a reddish bump on her forehead. He didn't seem to mind, and dusted himself off before leading her into the beautiful, dark manor in front of them. She didn’t have time to marvel at how majestic its façade was; Han Kyung dragged her, quite aggressively, mumbling, “We’re late.” She couldn’t help but notice how eerily quiet it was.

  Is this how they celebrate birthday parties here in Ouga-something? she thought, still not able to pronounce or even spell out the country’s strange name.

  The huge oak doors opened wide with one push from Han Kyung. The moment they stepped inside, music, loud chattering and laughter suddenly erupted. Hyeon Jin adjusted her eyes to the blinding lights and was just about to gasp in amazement at how huge and dazzling the place was when Han Kyung dragged her like a rag doll across the lobby and toward the end of the hall, to the right, where all the sounds seemed to be coming from.

  “Hey, what’s the hurry? Are you that hungry?” she yelled at his back.

  They arrived at the end of the hallway and the sounds were now louder than ever. Hyeon Jin giggled nervously, thinking how odd it was that bloodsuckers actually celebrated birthdays, just like ordinary humans.

  “Wait!” She suddenly realized something and stopped him before he could touch the doorknob. “Is there… I mean, everyone in there is… a bloodsucker?” she asked uncertainly, as a terrifying thought overwhelmed her.

  Han Kyung doubled up in laughter. I
t scared her so much that she took a couple of steps back. It was so eerie to hear his unearthly and humorless laughter. “Do you think we go around inviting humans to our gatherings and celebrations? Do we look that friendly to you?” he said, still laughing like a maniac.

  “But… I’ll be the only human in there if ever…? It’s just that if you’re all bloodsuckers and…” Her voice was filled with fear.

  He gazed at her and shrugged. “Even if you trigger some catch sensors, they wouldn’t dare touch you with Mun Oh in there.”

  The mention of Mun Oh’s name somehow lessened the looming terror in her heart. Han Kyung reached out for the doorknob again, but she swatted his hand away.

  “What the heck is wrong with you, human?” the angry bloodsucker snapped at her. “I’ve been tolerating you long enough, and I swear, one more wrong move and I’m gonna—”

  “Am I… Am I really invited to this party? Mun Oh never told me—”

  “You don’t look like someone who’d care about being invited or not.”

  “Hey, I’m not a party crasher! I don’t even like going to parties!”

  The bloodsucker opened the door before she could stop him again. He swore this human girl was giving him a terrible headache. She was quite a handful and he felt an ounce of sympathy for Mun Oh, who had actually spent his time with her for weeks. He couldn’t imagine how he could’ve survived that. But he felt more pleased than ever that things were going his way now. His rival, the guy whose guts he loathed more than anything, would be so torn apart that he’d probably beg just to die mercifully at his hands. Just the thought of his reaction upon seeing his “gift” for him sent a rush of excitement throughout his body.

  You are going down, Lee Mun Oh, he gloated as he pushed the door open. In an instant, the music and chattering ceased and all eyes were on them. Hyeon Jin made sure that she was right behind Han Kyung so that she wouldn’t stick out in the crowd. But the silence aroused her curiosity and she peeked out from behind him. Her jaw almost dropped to the ground.