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Chapter Text

It was all a blur. Taehyun can't remember how and why he got in this dark alley burning in his skin as the sunlight had hit his chest this morning, waking him up. It hurts. So much that he stayed unmoving for days until the burns healed by themselves.

He's hungry.

Beside him is a plastic bag containing convenience store items he can't remember if belonged to him. There's cup noodles, bread, coffee mix, and energy drink. He can at least remember that these were his favorite midnight snacks for whenever he had to stay all night for a test. 

He uses all of his strength left to lift up the plastic bag and take the first food he can get inside. He took a big bite of the bread and chewed like a madman but spit it out the moment it made contact with his throat. This is one of his favorites but somehow it tastes so bad that it must've molded for days, although the mold in question is nowhere to be seen. But he's starving and he just wants to eat anything so he can stand up and go home.

He tried to swallow another bite of the bread again and his stomach flipped. He can feel his body rejecting his favorite bread and pushing it out of his system immediately. Other than that, nothing else comes out of his mouth because he has not eaten anything for a few days. He can't even remember when was the last time he ate something.

The sunny alley transitioned into a dark creepy one as the night came. Taehyun hid himself in the corner to warm his body from the cold air as he was only wearing a plain shirt and sweatpants. He seemed to have more energy at night, but it still wasn't enough to stand up and go home to his auntie's house. Are they even trying to find him? He's not sure.

Then he heard footsteps. He squeezes himself lower to avoid being seen by whoever this person is. He's scared it could be a drunkard who will steal the food he can't even eat. 

But he's already been found out. 

"There you are." 

It's a man. 

Taehyun just realized he's not wearing his high graded glasses, but the lack of it didn't matter because his sight is clearer than it has ever been before, even in the dark alley. 

The man has dark hair and a pale skin. Even with the poor lighting, Taehyun can tell he's gorgeous and young. And he has his wrist extended in Taehyun's direction. 

He smells good. Too good that his stomach rumbled. 

"Go on, you'll need energy so we can get out of here." The man crouched down to level with Taehyun, eyes never leaving the poor boy in the corner.

Taehyun doesn't even have the energy to speak and ask questions. But his instinct is pulling him to the man's skin like it's the tastiest food that can satisfy his hunger.

"Do you even have fangs yet?" Taehyun looked up to the man's face, he didn't realize he'd only been staring at his wrist the whole time but not doing anything. "I'm Kai, by the way." 

Kai moved his hand from the air and touched Taehyun's jaw to open his mouth effortlessly. Not caring that his lips are chapped from the dryness of not drinking anything for days.

"Hah, cute. You wouldn't be able to pierce through skin with those teeth. It will probably hurt you. I wonder how pretty your teeth marks would look on my skin though." Kai's eyes flash a faint red as he runs his finger on the edges of Taehyun's teeth. 

Taehyun's heart beats uncontrollably. He wants to bite this man's finger. He wants to eat this man's finger off.

With the same faint red mark on his eyes, Taehyun closes his mouth with Kai's thumb in between his teeth. Kai didn't even flinch as he let Taehyun struggle in wounding his thumb. And when he successfully did so, tiny beads of blood got on his tongue. It tastes so sweet he can physically feel his energy growing inside of him.

And he wants more. He craves more. 

"The sunlight will get to us before you even get satisfied in that speed." Kai uses his other hand to effortlessly part Taehyun's jaw and free his thumb. He put it in his mouth to have a taste as well and then lifted his wrist into the air. 

The flash of Kai's fangs displayed in front of Taehyun made him badly want to touch it, only if he got the energy to do so. 

"This is how you do it." Kai bites on his wrist and if Taehyun was a normal human he was a few days ago, he would've flinched and gathered all his strength to run away. But instead, he's fascinated. He wants to do that to Kai's skin too. 

After a moment, Kai releases his wrist and uses his other hand to part Taehyun's lips. The blood dripping out of Kai's mouth got Taehyun's tongue moving and wanted to lick. But he didn't have to wait so long. 

Kai connected their lips and let the blood flow into Taehyun's mouth. This is better. His whole mouth filled with blood is so much better than beads of it from Kai's finger. 

-

Taehyun abruptly got up from the soft mattress, waking up from a deep slumber of a few more days. 

"He's up." A movement on his right caught his attention. He watched as two figures approached him, both wearing long black robe-like uniforms.

"Kai," It came out as a whisper, and images of Taehyun kissing this guy in that dark alley flashed in his mind. They didn't just kiss, he fed him his own blood.

"Glad you're finally awake." Kai stood beside him followed by the other man in brown hair.

"Where am I?" Taehyun asks. Even he is surprised to hear his voice once again, although it came out hoarse and deep.

"In the safest place you could ever be as a new turned vampire." Kai smiled.

Taehyun stared at him. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle and stare at his hands. He's gotten thinner and paler than normal. 

"Do you remember who turned you?" Kai bent over to level his face with Taehyun. Shamelessly eyeing the new and obviously  younger vampire.

"No. But I missed the test I was supposed to take." 

It's Kai's turn to chuckle and let out a laugh. 

"Then, good thing you're transferring schools now. Right? New Start." Kai cheers and shuffles Taehyun's messy hair. He leans into the touch with closed eyes, getting comfortable with the man who helped him get out of that dark alley.

"Right," Kai's voice got him opening his eyes again. "This is Beomgyu." Kai gestured to the man standing just beside him watching their interaction.

Beomgyu didn't miss a beat asking a favor he'd been keeping to himself since the newly turned vampire arrived. "Can I see your teeth?"

Taehyun lifted his two eyebrows.

"Gyu," Kai says warningly like he'd already expected the odd question.

"No fair only you get to see it in the first meeting." Gyu folded his arms in his front. 

"I don't think I'm comfortable showing you my set of teeth," Taehyun says directly to Beomgyu.

"I'm gonna show you my ability in exchange for 3 seconds view," Beomgyu shows him his hands with three digits up and then snaps his fingers. Taehyun waited for anything to happen, but the silence and the smugness of Beomgyu's face got uncomfortably long. "I just silenced our conversation, no one other than us three can hear us." 

"Very impressive, right?" Kai says sarcastically. "He can manipulate senses."

"Yes, whenever we're in a meeting talking about strategies and shit." Beomgyu rolled his eyes. "Because of me, the Spades are high scorers in the games."

"Pretty sure it's because of Yeonjun." Kai bites back. 

"I can also make you shut up." He taunts Kai and the taller vampire doesn't talk back. If he went silent on his own or Beomgyu really manipulated it, Taehyun isn't sure.

"What do you mean I'm transferring schools?" Kai's statement a few minutes ago just sunk into Taehyun's mind. Not that he didn't enjoy his stay at his current school, but it wasn't so great either. He can say he's a bit popular because of his pretty face and smart brain, but nothing about it excites him anymore. 

"Exactly how I said it." So Kai can talk again. "You're a vampire now, Taehyun. And it's safer for you to stay here. Safer for you, and safer for normal humans." Kai said it with finality. 

This just gave a single and important conclusion for Taehyun: he's not a normal human anymore.

"I can't be a vampire? Vampires aren't real." For a moment, he hoped Kai can just laugh and reveal that they were just pranking him and this is just a stupid stunt of new bullies in school wanting him to transfer out. But as he watches Kai and Beomgyu's almost unnoticeable fangs, pale skin, and piercing eyes flashing faint red, he knows they are the real deal. He's lying here defenseless in a bed with two stronger vampires. Probably a hundred times stronger than him.

Taehyun shivers as Kai slowly runs his thumb on his neck. He didn't even notice that his hand was in front of him in the first place. He's familiar with this soft texture of his skin, having been bitten it once.

"Until those wounds fully heal, you might attract very dangerous vampires," Beomgyu states, eyeing the two deep wounds on Taehyun's neck. "It might take weeks or months until you completely change."

"And you both... are not those very dangerous vampires, right?" 

"For now," Kai answers with a grin. "We just ate so we shouldn't really crave your blood right now." The mention of blood tugged something in Taehyun's instincts. 

"What do you mean?" Taehyun felt a rush of anxiety. In front of him is Kai's sweet skin. He's had a taste of it before, for sure Kai wouldn't mind if he could have some more, right?

"Newly turned vampires still have the blood of a normal human. So unless you become a fully turned vampire, you're unsafe. Your blood is rare and known to be a high-grade delicacy every vampire would die for." Kai says it with piercing eyes on Taehyun's exposed neck.

"But don't worry, we have Soobin to give you some sort of protection." Beomgyu claps. 

Taehyun looked at them confused but no words could come out of his mouth. 

"Soobin is one of the Kings. You'll meet him in no time." Beomgyu shrugs. 

"What kind of protection will he give me?" 

"His blood." The answer made Taehyun look at the vampire who gave him just that before he arrived in this place.

Kai gave him an unfazed but meaningful look.

"Soobin is a descendant of an ancient family of noble vampires. Plus, he's a king, so people will of course, back off of you." Kai explained.

"Same with Yeonjun. But he doesn't want to share his blood with anyone except a few people, so he's out of the list." Beomgyu looked meaningfully at Kai. "Our houses are a team in everything games-related." 

"And I assume I'll know more about that in my stay here." Taehyun blinks. 

"Of course." 

-

Taehyun is a bit overwhelmed about his first day in his new school. He's used to being able to plan ahead and read textbooks before attending his classes but now he has no idea what to expect. 

Do vampires study English, Math, and Science? He will probably flunk if he happens to have a Literature class and History. He knows nothing about vampires. Even the changes in his anatomy confuse the heck out of him. 

If vampires are immortals who don't age, then why are there hundred-year-old vampires in this place, like Kai who's 319 years old, and Beomgyu who's 413? Do they yearly flunk their grades that they never graduate from this school?  

Taehyun rubs on his temples to ease his migraine. He's been thinking about this too much and as much as he wants to go to the library and search for answers to his million questions, Soobin hasn't given him his protection yet. He's scared of what might happen to him if he goes out on his own.

Except for today. He firmly believes vampires wouldn't do a thing to him in the classrooms. There must be some sort of rules in the classrooms, right? 

So now he's wearing a uniform tailored to his size given by Beomgyu. He doesn't even have a bag and his side of the room is pretty empty. He's waiting for Beomgyu and Kai to help him get his things from his auntie's house, although that seems to be a stretch for now. He's been told to be the youngest and rarest vampire in school so he's rooming alone for now, for his safety.

He's already talked to the higher-ups of the school and he almost cowered in fear in front of such powerful vampires. He just knew they all have the desire to eat him then and there if not for Beomgyu and Kai accompanying him.

He gently touched the wounds on his neck to remind himself that all of this is real. He still can't remember who bit him but he has to put it to the back of his mind for now. 

After mustering up the courage, he finally has the guts to open the door and get out. 

He looked left and right and sighed in relief seeing no one in the hallway. He's dorming right now in the House of Spades building, ruled by the King named Yeonjun, according to Beomgyu.

He carefully walked to the hallways and his heart almost stopped as he step out of the building and see more people there. He expected to see everyone wearing emo accessories with their uniforms but he's surprised to see that everyone seemed to be pretty normal. No blood in sight and no people biting each other on the neck. 

The only odd thing is that everyone's skin is pale and they are walking under the sun. There must be something in this place because he remember burning like hell when the sun hit him in the chest, which fully healed now. 

He started to gain more confidence in walking around to find the Admin Building where he can get his class schedule. He's attending classes in the middle of the semester so he will probably get random classes in random times of the day.

No one seems to pay him any attention, which is not what he expected according to what Kai and Beomgyu have told him about being a "rare blood". Kai's protection when he fed him his blood must be powerful enough.

But he spoke so soon.

"You seem unfamiliar." Taehyun halted his steps to look behind him and saw a man looking straight at him. 

"I'm new," Taehyun says and faces the man to bow politely.

"I can tell. Are you lost?" The man asked. Taehyun couldn't answer immediately as he saw a King of Hearts badge beside his name. "I'm Guwon." 

"I'm Taehyun... King of Hearts?" 

"Mhm." Guwon hummed and tugged on his badge. "You don't seem to have any badge yet." 

"I have no idea about anything in this school." Taehyun blurts out.

"I can help you. Admin Building?" 

Taehyun nods and lets Guwon lead his way. If his intuition is correct, does this mean this guy is one of the Kings Beomgyu and Kai were talking about?

"You're the first King that I've met." Taehyun states. He didn't plan to hold a conversation with a stranger but he can't help but voice out his curiosity.

"You must have a lot of questions, then." 

Taehyun nods. As they walked the hallways, Guwon started explaining the ranking system to Taehyun. 

"There are four houses in this school. Also means there are four dorm buildings, four Face Cards or the Kings, Queens, and Jacks. There's also the 40 Knights, with 10 in each house. The rest are just... I guess normal vampire students. The cards are a ranking for the strongest vampires in school. Each house is determined by skill and preference. So I guess you don't have a skill yet." 

Taehyun looked at Guwon intently. If he confirms this fact to him that he doesn't have any skills, he would know he's newly turned. He can just lie that he forgot his badge in his room but that just sounds too stupid of him.

"Yeah." Taehyun simply answered. "So Kai and Beomgyu are Queens." Taehyun murmurs, remembering their badges. Kai's badge is the Queen of Diamonds while Beomgyu is the Queen of Spades.

"Queens aren't exactly the Kings' significant others. It's just the name of the rank for 2nd strongest in the house." 

"So they are strong. I knew it." 

Guwon chuckles at him.

They stopped the conversation as they arrived at the Admin Building. They left immediately after getting the schedule attached to a handbook and Taehyun is more confused than ever. 

"My first class is a whole day?" He flipped a few pages and he might get another migraine at this point.

"It's the middle of the semester so there are no orientations-- actually, there has been no orientation for decades now, I can't even remember if I had one when I got in here. Do you want me to explain these to you?" The King pointed at his handbook.

Taehyun looked at Guwon and pursed his lips. The King raised both his hands in defeat. 

"Sorry, it must be hard trusting someone." 

Now Taehyun felt guilty. This King has been nice to him even at first meeting and all he did is be suspicious of him. 

"I think you already know I'm newly turned." Taehyun starts. "And I'm quote-unquote, a 'delicacy' to literally everyone in this school." 

Guwon started giggling.

"My curiosity of you is stronger than my desire to drink your blood or eat you. Like why does the Queen of Diamond's blood flow in your veins instead of one of the Kings." 

Taehyun stared at him.

"I can smell him on you," Guwon added. "For your information, Vampires who are stronger than Kai can still smell your human blood. Those weaker than him wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Which is the majority of the students here." 

"So you knew." Taehyun stepped back.

"Yep." Guwon crossed his arms and nodded smugly. "I'm stronger than Kai." When Taehyun didn't even praise him for that, he cleared his throat. "I'm not here to hurt you, I swear. I just felt that you needed help." Guwon looked at the handbook in Taehyun's hands. 

"Can I trust you?" 

"How about this, to prove that I don't plan to drink your blood, how about you drink mine? For protection." Taehyun stuttered to refuse. All he had since he came here was animal blood and meat. He's still adjusting to the new diet but maybe he's just a vampire after all, and he can't resist the temptation of tasting a person's blood, may it be human or vampire.

"Kai said Soobin will give his to me."

"Roaming around the school with Kai's protection isn't enough. You need a King's blood, like, right now. Soobin or Yeonjun must've forgotten to do it to you. If they even want to in the first place." 

Taehyun pouted. 

"How do I do that then... How am I supposed to drink your blood?" 

Guwon's eyes sparked in joy. 

"Let's go somewhere more private!" 

-

"TAEHYUN WE HAVE SOMETHING-- are you not here?" Beomgyu looked around Taehyun's room until he saw him on the floor lying flat a few books he was able to borrow from the library. 

"Beomgyu," Taehyun greeted back. "What's up?" 

"I can't smell you," Beomgyu says seriously. "Did Soobin already give you his blood?" 

So Guwon is stronger than Beomgyu because he can't smell him.

"No, it was--" 

"Guwon." A man Taehyun didn't notice standing behind Beomgyu suddenly talked. 

"What?" Beomgyu looked behind him to look at the man. 

"Guwon's blood is protecting his scent." 

So this guy, whoever he is, is stronger than Guwon. Navigating through the basics seems easy enough. 

"And you are?" Taehyun asks. 

The man walked closer and sat down to level to Taehyun. He finally now sees the badge on his chest. 

"King of Spades." Taehyun looks at his face. 

"Yeonjun." And then his eyes flashed red. "And why is Guwon's minion staying in my building?" He gave a piercing glare to Taehyun's big doe eyes. 

"I'm not someone's minion. I don't even have a badge yet." 

"Then let's get your badge." Yeonjun stood up with a grasp on Taehyun's wrist.

"Hey! What?!" Taehyun protested but he's already being pulled by Yeonjun out of the building with Beomgyu hopping behind them to catch up. 

Taehyun kept protesting for Yeonjun to release him but to no avail so he decided to just follow along for now. Kings can be assholes too, huh.

They entered another building that Taehyun saw had a Club chest display on top. 

The loud opening of the door made a guy sitting in front of a TV jolt in his seat and look at the source of the noise. 

"What the fuck, Yeonjun?" The man raised his hands.

"Where's Jay?" 

"You can talk to the King first." The man pointed to himself. 

"Just call Jay, Heeseung." Yeonjun bit back. 

Heeseung stood up. "So what's the matter with... who is that?" 

"Taehyun. He's new so we need to know his skill." 

Heeseung stared for a moment. "New as in, new enrollee or new turned vampire?" 

"Both." Answers Beomgyu, sitting down on Heeseung's couch. 

Heeseung approached Taehyun who hid behind Yeonjun's back. He started smelling the air with a frown. Taehyun saw the King of Club in his chest. How many Kings will he meet today?

"He doesn't smell nice." 

"That's rude." Taehyun furrowed his brows. 

"Guwon gave him his blood."

"Damn, Guwon's stronger than me?" Heeseung placed both his hands on his head as if in distress. 

"Sucks to be you." Beomgyu teases. 

"I bet you couldn't smell him either." 

"In fact I do." 

Yeonjun rolled his eyes. "I don't want a Heart staying in my building so let's appraise his skill to know which house he belongs to." 

"Ugh, those directors making us do their jobs again," Heeseung complained and gave a tilt of his head to someone also sitting by the couch before he stood up and walks out of the room. Taehyun squints his eyes to see the guy wearing the Jack of Club badge. 

Heeseung is still looking at Taehyun from head to toe.

"Can you release my wrist now, please?" Taehyun says to Yeonjun. 

Yeonjun looked at him and huffed. He finally released him from his hold and crossed his arms. Taehyun held his own wrist to ease the pain of Yeonjun's strong grip.

The Jack of Club finally arrived back in the room with another guy in front of him. 

"Thanks Sunghoon." Heeseung says and the Jack went back to the couch. "Yeonjun needs your help, Jay." He says to the Queen of Club.

"I'll take note of this to charge you later," Jay smirks to Yeonjun.

"Whatever."

"Name?" Jay asks. 

"Taehyun."

The Queen stilled for a moment and then slowly frowned. 

"What?" Yeonjun asks. 

"I can't seem to amplify anything." Jay tilted his head to the side and approached Taehyun. "Favorite color?" 

"Pink?"

"One plus one?"

"What the hell? Two. What's with the questions?" 

"Just answer me correctly. Where did you come from?"

"Seoul."

"Favorite food?"

"I guess right now, blood?" 

Jay didn't ask him any other questions for another minute as he silently assessed him. Until the Queen suddenly placed both his hands on Taehyun's shoulder with a shake of his knees. 

"Fuck." Jay curses and Heeseung immediately goes to help him up, taking him away from Taehyun. 

"What happened? With all those questions, you should already know his skill." Yeonjun followed Jay as Heeseung laid him down on the couch. The Queen didn't respond to him as he seemed disoriented so Yeonjun went back to Taehyun.

"What did you do? His Amplification just drained yet he can't seem to know what the heck your skill is." 

Taehyun just stood there confused. 

"I didn't do anything," Taehyun answers honestly. 

"Then what was that? Jay should've amplified and awakened your skill the moment you answered a single question correctly." Yeonjun says in an accusatory voice. 

"I don't fucking know!" Taehyun snaps. He's the most confused of whatever is happening around him. He's new to all of this, for fuck's sake. 

Yeonjun seem to be still pissed that he flashed his fangs out, almost like hissing to Taehyun. 

"What the fuck is your problem?!" 

"Shut up." The King of Spades dared him. Yeonjun felt his body stiffen and his shoulder dropping. His brows creased even bigger. He felt a drop in his power just now. Much like Jay's skill if you answer his question incorrectly.

"He doesn't belong in any house." A figure on the door took their attention. Taehyun sees the King of Diamonds in his chest. Great, the one last King to probably make him more confused. 

"The heck does that mean?" Yeonjun asks. 

"He's the Joker." 

Everybody seemed to stop breathing. And Taehyun was right, this king is another addition to his migraine.

-

Taehyun is about to lose his mind. 

Everyone in this school including him is a vampire. He's already wrapped his head around that fact. 

The ranking system is conceptualized like a deck of cards. He can take that. He can see the appeal.

But now that he's read the school's handbook cover to cover, he can only laugh hysterically. 

He's not in a school of vampires to learn English, Math, or Science. Not even Literature or History of Vampirism. 

He's in a school of vampires who play games. 

GAMES. 

Every vampire has a unique skill ranging from the simplest to the most destructive. 

And the vampires utilize those amazing skills to fucking play games. 

Each house is assigned to a total of three games in a year which means they alternately organizes a game in each month.

House of Diamonds is about games of wit. Brain-wracking games that test the wisdom and knowledge of each student. It's the most dreadful among everything else and the face cards are usually the only players that pass them.

House of Spades  is about physical games. Spade games test the physical capabilities of everyone and are the most pain-inflicting games that usually lead to so many injuries. A perk of being immortal vampires, no one dies so no one ever complained to the directors. Vampires are sadists and they love experiencing and inflicting pain so these games are usually the fan favorite.

House of Club is about teamwork. The Club games are usually the most frustrating as teams are formed with a member in every house present in a single group. Anyone can sabotage the game for the sake of bringing down the strong members in a group. But sometimes, Club games form friendships among members of each house. That's why Heeseung, the King of Club for decades, is also called Mr. Friendship by the other Face cards as he always comes up with cheesy games to bring the Houses closer, except for a certain house.

And finally, the House of Hearts is about setting emotions at peak or on fire. Heart games are the most cruel as they play on the emotional weaknesses of their players. It usually ends up severing ties among friends and leading to rivalries, duels, and enemies. 

Reading all this simply flabbergasted Taehyun.

He doesn't know how to fit himself in, especially with a Joker badge currently slapped on his chest beside his name. 

He needs to talk to Soobin and ask him questions. 

And most importantly, which house is he supposed to participate in.

So he neatly placed the handbook in his new shoulder bag given by Beomgyu, and went on his way to the House of Diamonds building.

He's fascinated by the protection flowing in his blood as he freely roams the school without any disruptions. He assumes that every building's layout is the same so when he's faced with a wall adjacent to where Heeseung's office in the House of Club building was located, he grimaces. 

Now he's lost and he needs to ask someone to tell him where to go. He held his bag tightly and continued to walk his way.

But before he can even walk to the stairs, few students got there first to get down from the building. Until the few became a crowd that he had to just follow them down until he was lead to a big hall with high ceiling. There's a lot of vampire around him and if not for Kai and Guwon's protection, he could be cowering right now. 

These vampires could easily kill and eat him right now. He doesn't have any idea what his skill is and he knows his physical strength is no match to these century-old immortals. Is he about to finally face death once everyone in this room realizes he's newly turned?

"Taehyun." A hand is placed on his shoulder and he snaps out of his panic as he sees Kai beside him. 

He couldn't help but hug Kai's frame in fear of anyone killing him then and there. He trusts Kai the most in this school. 

"It's alright. Let's get out of here first before anyone sees that you're not a Diamond." 

That's when Taehyun realized everyone in the hall was indeed wearing the Diamond badge. 

Taehyun looked back one last time and saw a tall man on the stage looking directly at him. It's Soobin, and he has no expression on his face. Taehyun just know this guy knew something about him. 

As the two steered clear of the crowd, Taehyun could finally breathe again as Kai waited for him to talk in the hallways. 

"Did I crash something?" Taehyun asks. 

"Just the strategy meeting for this month's game. It's House of Diamonds' turn to organize this month and everybody takes it very seriously." Kai answers. The Queen subtly glances at Taehyun and then at his hands. 

"Aren't you needed inside then?" Taehyun looked at Kai's badge. Kai hesitated to answer for some reason.

"I helped Soobin with coming up with a game plan so I already know what he's gonna talk about in there," Kai explained. "Joker, huh. I knew you were something else." 

It reminded Taehyun, "I need to talk to Soobin."

"He definitely knows stuff. But he won't tell it to you easily." Kai leans on the wall. "He's secretive as hell to others." 

"Can I wait for the strategy meeting to end so I can still try talking to him?" Taehyun asks. Kai took a moment before answering. 

"It will take time. But if you really want, you can wait in his office." Kai hesitated before he held Taehyun's wrist. 

"Everything okay?" Taehyun asks when Kai remains silently looking at his hand on his wrist.

"Did you know how I got you in this school after saving you in that dark alley?"

Now that he's trying to think about it, he can't seem to remember anything aside from kissing him that night.

"Remind me?"

"My skill is Teleportation." Kai informed him. "It was one heck of a travel from here to that place back and forth. I think I still need to recover for a few more days."

Taehyun nods in fascination.

"Want to try teleporting with me again? Just to Soobin's office." Kai offered excitedly.

"Didn't you say you need more days to recover?"

"I just want to try something. Don't worry, we won't teleport if I'm still recovering."

Taehyun eyed Kai suspiciously and looked at his hand on his wrist before smiling.

"Sure, what could go wrong, right?" Taehyun can be wary of any new person he meets, but Kai seems to be different. From the moment he saved him that night, he could probably trust his life with this vampire.

-

Taehyun is at least grateful Soobin's office is basically a library that he could use his time well while waiting for the King. He spent his time reading books he wasn't able to borrow in the library until almost three hours later, he fell asleep in the reading table. 

He only stirred awake when he sensed movement in front of him. 

Standing there is Soobin looking down at him with a frown. 

"Those are my books." He complains. 

"I'm not taking them anywhere." Taehyun closes the book on his lap and stacks it on the books already on the table.

"Kai told me your agenda for waiting for me and my answer is: you just wasted your time." Soobin walked to his swivel chair and put down a notebook to his table.

"Just tell me what my skill is. I know you already know what it is." Taehyun followed him to the table. 

"Watch how you talk to me." Soobin warns.

For some reason, Taehyun isn't afraid. 

"You will discover it soon once you play the games."

"I don't even know where I belong in those games." Taehyun crossed his arms and leaned his back on Soobin's table.

"You can play with any house you want. It doesn't matter as we earn points individually and groups are made on the spot." Soobin squints his eyes on Taehyun.

"I have more questions."

Soobin stood up from his swivel chair and walked to his bookshelves, Taehyun persistently followed him.

"Do I have to pay so you'd just tell me?" Taehyun asks. 

"You can't pay me with anything." Just like Kai, Soobin looked at him weirdly after answering.

"My blood." Soobin halted in his step and faced Taehyun directly. "I know everyone's crazy for human blood, right? I am still part human."

Soobin clears his throat. 

"You don't know what you're saying." 

"I can bare my neck for you, just tell me my skill and everything you know about me. I remember a bit now. You were in my room on my first night when you were supposed to feed me your blood for protection. You just stood beside my bed without saying or doing anything until you simply just left." 

Soobin finally walked to Taehyun and bent down to his height. "You don't just tell a Vampire King you will bare your neck for him." He warns. 

"I will bare my neck for you, King of Diamonds." Taehyun dared and leaned his head to the side to bare his neck.

Soobin's eyes flashed red and Taehyun almost regretted daring the King when he flashed his fangs out and actually leaned his head to his neck. Taehyun rapidly breathed and closed his eyes to brace himself for the coming pain. But he only felt the coldness of Soobin's teeth on his neck, still as if waiting for something.

He heard a deep sigh and the cold contact disappeared. He opened his eyes to Soobin's bloody irises and the King stepped back. Taehyun touched his neck and he released a sigh of relief that there was no blood coming out of him.

"See? You're scared." Soobin says firmly.

"In my defense, you'd be the first vampire to bite me in this school so of course I'm scared." Taehyun rolled his eyes. 

"Just leave. I won't tell you anything I'm still unsure of."

"If I can't give you my blood, then I'll beat your game. If I win your game this month, you'll tell me everything." Taehyun decided. 

Soobin smirks for the first time. 

"That, I will accept." Soobin's smirk easily disappeared and walked out in front of Taehyun with a book in his hand. 

Taehyun let him do so and went his way out of the King's office. 

-

"Stick beside any of the Spades and you'll be fine. I'll order them to protect you." Beomgyu winks at Taehyun's nervous glance at him. It made Taehyun's grip on his arm tighter than it already was.

"Don't we have to be grouped randomly though?" Taehyun asks. 

"Not exactly. It will be according to what games the House organizes." Beomgyu beamed. "Anyone can choose to play the face card difficulty. Jack, Queen, and King are obviously the hardest. But if you don't want those, you will draw a random card from 1-10."

"So there will be 13 games to be played simultaneously?" 

Beomgyu nods with a fond smile to Taehyun.

"This office is for Spade Officials only." Yeonjun dropped his pen down and glared at Taehyun and Beomgyu cuddling comfortably on the couch. Yeonjun was writing some strategy to give out to the Spades according to small clues given to him by Soobin. It's been hours but he can only stare at a drawing of four boxes with bomb and flag icons on a piece of paper.

Spades and Diamonds have been in an alliance for decades now, helping each other as much as possible in clearing the games in any way they can. The Kings and Queens have a great relationship together that not even the hardest Hearts game can break. Although they can only share clues whenever one of them organizes the game of the month in order to still be fair for other houses.

"I am an official, Queen of Spade, baby." Beomgyu reminded, purposely ignoring the obvious fact that Yeonjun was referring to Taehyun. 

"I don't trust you." Yeonjun directly looked at Taehyun. 

"The feeling's mutual," Taehyun responded with a wide smile.

"Joker can do whatever they want, right? That's how it works in card games. The trump card." Beomgyu states, proudly ruffling Taehyun's hair.

"Or they are useless and don't have any value at all." 

"Stop being a hater, Yeonjun." The other person in the room finally spoke. The Jack of Spade, Wooyoung.

"I'm the King." Yeonjun reminded. "He reeks of Guwon and it pisses me off I can't focus."

"Why do you hate Guwon so much? He's nice." Taehyun says. Beomgyu chuckles beside him and Yeonjun simply huffs.

"He's an ass." 

"Well, he's my friend so you shouldn't badmouth my friend in front of me." Taehyun bites back.

"You're in my office and my building so you fucking follow what I say." 

"I don't care."

"You don't know shit about Guwon like how ignorant you are with everything else in this school. Your useless Joker rank has proved nothing in this place. You're a piece of meat and if not for Beomgyu and Kai, you would've been in my freezer." 

"What the fuck, Yeonjun?" Beomgyu stood up to protect Taehyun while Yeonjun seemed to snap out of his senses.

"Woah woah," Wooyoung stood up to get to the King of Spade. "Calm down. You're being an ass here, Yeonjun. When's the last time you ate something?" 

Taehyun wants to just disappear out of there. 

And he did. 

Beomgyu jolted in his feet and cussed out loud, getting the attention of the King and Jack. 

Both have a confused look at him and then around the room as Taehyun isn't seating beside Beomgyu anymore. 

"He just fucking vanished! Like how Kai does!" 

"I'll serve 3 portions of meat and blood, and you'll devour everything in one sitting, Yeonjun. Nothing comes good when you're skipping meals." Wooyoung decided and went his way out of the office. 

"Ah shit, Soobin's not telling us something." Beomgyu stomped his feet and also went his way out. His cuddle session with Taehyun just got ruined.

-

Taehyun found himself in an unfamiliar place facing a door. He looked around and saw he was on a high floor of one of the buildings. Literally a second ago he was just sharing body heat with Beomgyu on a couch, with Yeonjun disrespecting his existence. It pisses him off.

"Taehyun?" A familiar voice called his name and Taehyun immediately eased down seeing a familiar face. "What are you doing here?" 

"Guwon." Taehyun couldn't help but land his eyes on the King's exposed neck. It's all healed but a scar paints the smooth skin, exactly the shape of his mouth. 

"Were you looking for me?" Guwon opened the door wider and stepped to the side. 

"Yeah." Taehyun can assume he's being invited inside so he obliged to enter. 

Around him is full of red motifs from the carpet to the curtains. This office seems to be the most fancy among the first three he's visited. 

"Did you suddenly come to your senses and--" Two guys inside the office stopped talking to look at Taehyun.

"Wow, now you're a Joker!" Guwon beams to get his attention out of the two.

The two guys stood up with red irises blinking in their eyes. 

"This is Seonghwa and Mingi. The Queen and the Jack of Hearts." Guwon introduces. "This is Taehyun, guys." The King looked at the two sternly.

"Hi." Taehyun shyly waved a hand. "I'm sorry for being here." Taehyun faced Guwon.

"No problem at all." 

"We were just talking about you, actually." Seonghwa folded his arms.

"About what?" 

Guwon lifted his hand up to Taehyun's chin to direct his face back at him. 

"Did you know what my skill is?" 

Taehyun blinks. It must be nice that to know what skill you possess and can do. 

"What is it?" 

"Aphrosidiac. I could make you drop dead in love with me with a single kiss." Guwon rubs his thumb on Taehyun's cheeks. 

"Really?" 

"Don't worry, I won't use it on you." Guwon laughs. "So, would you like to strategize with us for the next game? I have a little clue on what Soobin's game will be about." 

- 

Beomgyu is pissed. 

"It's your fault." He huffs with the biggest frown on his face. "Because of you, he's with Guwon instead of me." The mention of what makes him this mad just made him even more pissed.

Beomgyu had plans that day to tour Taehyun around the school but his sudden disappearance ruined it and he's never caught Taehyun alone since then. He would always be around the Hearts and it makes his blood boil to his bones.

"It wasn't intentional," Yeonjun explains. "You know I get dumb when hungry. Like every vampire gets taken over by their instincts when hungry." 

"It's still your fault you said all that and made Taehyun uncomfortable he fucking vanished. Now he's with that stupid King." Beomgyu glared at the way Guwon had his arm around Taehyun's shoulder. They're too close for his liking. "If you said those words to me, you would never talk a single word in your live ever again."

"You know I'd never say them to you, ever." Yeonjun explains. "And it was wrong to say those to Taehyun as well."

Yeonjun tried to woo Beomgyu in the remaining time they still have before the games begin. 

They're currently assembled in front of the Diamonds Gymnasium where the game will commence.

"Look, I will apologize to him today, okay? And to you. Beomgyu, come on, I didn't mean to say those things." Yeonjun tried to brush a hand on Beomgyu's face but the Queen evaded his touch.

"I will play the Queen." Beomgyu walks as the gates for the Face games open. 

"We talked about playing the King though?" Yeonjun followed but stopped as Beomgyu entered the gate for the Queen level game. He groans as he moves his feet to the King level gate. As much as he wants to follow Beomgyu, it will have to wait as he has to play King no matter what. It's a part of his duty as the King to ensure that the Spade vampires would respect his position.

Yeonjun entered the gate and it closed behind him. This game must have a fixed number of players required and he's the last one to enter. As he fixes the game wristband on his wrist he took from the table in front of him, he furrowed his brows looking at the players inside the room with him.

"Why would you be in the King's game?" Yeonjun asks out loud that everyone looked at him. Inside the room are Heeseung, Jay, Guwon, Seonghwa, Mingi, the 10 of Spades student, the 7 of Hearts student, and...

"Taehyun," Yeonjun added.

The aforementioned looked at him and huffed. "Why are you asking like I'm not supposed to be here?" 

"Did Guwon made you come here? You're a newbie, you should be at lower level games to test your skill first!" 

Taehyun walked to him after assuring Guwon he could manage himself. 

"You don't understand. King's game could be too much for you. If you fail this you're not getting any points." 

"Not like I have a competition in the rank of Jokers." Taehyun pointed out.

Yeonjun sighs. "It's not just about the ranks." Yeonjun glared at Guwon and whispered his next words. "The vampires with the lowest points after the games will give their blood to be served on the banquet after the games. A hint of human blood being mixed into everyone's drink is enough to drive everyone insane in finding you. No scent will be able to help you if that happens." Yeonjun had a genuine look in his eyes that Taehyun had to step back and process what he said. 

"Guwon said he'll help me ace this game... So I could gain points and up the ranks in the long run." 

"There's no guarantee you'll be grouped with him or his officials. You should've never trusted him." 

Taehyun's breath hitched as he looked up at Yeonjun. He has no reason to lie about what he said. And if he's right, then he's about to be found out by every vampire in the school. Guwon would never compromise his safety like that, right?

Taehyun looked in Guwon's direction who was whispering something to his Queen and Jack.

"I will ask the Clubs to watch over you if you ever get grouped with them." Before Yeonjun can even walk to Heeseung, his wristband beeps and changes to a bright color of blue.

He immediately looked over Taehyun's wristband and sighed in relief. He showed his band to Taehyun and smiled. 

For some reason, it relieves Taehyun too as he showed him his band that changed to a blue color as well. 

-

Chapter Text

"Soobin." Taehyun whispers as he sees the King of Diamonds on the stage, which is almost 50 meters from where they are. In front of them is a rectangular field of grass colored in checkered light and dark green. The ground looks peaceful but it eerily sends shivers down Taehyun's spine.

The players are grouped into three and they each have their own rectangular field in front of them.

"This will probably be easy." Mingi, their third member, beams at Taehyun. Mingi is the Jack of Hearts and a trusted friend of Guwon aside from the Queen of Hearts, Seonghwa. Taehyun won’t lie, but Mingi’s energy whenever he hangs out with the Hearts can sometimes be too much for him. The way he usually jokes around in every situation can be funny, but once or twice his jokes send shivers down Taehyun’s spine. And it’s usually about his taste and human-ness.

"I hope." Taehyun answers warily. His trust in Guwon is a bit compromised right now and it obviously affected how he sees the Jack and Queen of Hearts.

"The first rule of every game, is don't underestimate even the lowest levels, especially the face cards." Yeonjun sent a cold glare to Mingi. He does hate the Hearts minions . “Weren’t you supposed to know that?”

Mingi flicked the badge on his chest and smiled at the King. “I know very well, Yeonjun.”

Before Yeonjun could take a step toward Mingi, the three fields in front of them lit up with loud feedback from the speakers above the stage. Upon closer look, Taehyun found out it was the grass that was glowing on the ground.

The big screen above Soobin's head opens to a white screen that can easily be seen by each vampire even in their current distance. Texts of instruction show up there as Soobin says them out loud amplified in the speakers.

"Each group can choose a single starting point in the first row of the field. Each member of the group takes turns stepping on any of the surrounding squares until they make it to the finish line. The number of bombed squares will be displayed on the ground. Stepping on a bombed square explodes a limb on your body starting from your arms and then feet and restarts the game of your team." 

"Each limb is 25% of your individual scores. The first mistake explodes your right arm; 2nd mistake explodes your left arm; the 3rd mistake is a warning, and; the 4th mistake explodes both your feet. Four mistakes of a player means losing the game but the rest can continue playing. A team gaining six bombs disqualifies everyone in the team." 

Everybody went silent to take in and comprehend the complicated rules. 

"So... what are these flags for?" Seonghwa asked from another field of grass but Soobin didn't spare him a glance and continued the instructions. 

"You have two hours to clear the game. No member on the finish line means defeat of the whole team."

“I should be glad Soobin decided to give instructions instead of a riddle this time. But those words he just spoke flew over my head like flies. That damn nerd.” Despite the complaint, Yeonjun grinned at Soobin’s direction and winked. If the King of Diamonds has received that attempt, Taehyun isn’t sure.

"Any ideas on how to play this game?" Yeonjun faced his two members again.

"Just step on random squares." Mingi suggested with a shrug. 

"We're not doing that." Yeonjun warned him. "Why would you play the King's game if you would just goof around?" 

"So, both of you don’t even know this game?" Taehyun finally talks with another glance at the checkered field.

"No." 

"Why are you talking like you know?" 

"The rules are pretty simple to understand.” Taehyun pointed at the written rules on the screen and then the field. “The number of bombed squares shows up when we step on a square and we have flags to mark which ones have the bombs. So it means we're gonna play..." Taehyun waited for the others to continue his sentence. After getting two awkward glances, he gave up and sighed. "Minesweeper." 

"That definitely cleared things up." Yeonjun says sarcastically. Having absolutely no idea what Minesweeper is. A miner who sweeps inside a cave? He’s not sure. There wasn’t even a cave in this game but a field of peaceful grass that apparently had bombs below.

Taehyun rolled his eyes and faced Soobin. 

"The King's game starts now." Soobin announces. 

"Isn't that a bit cringe, shouting how he's the king and this is his game." Taehyun side-comments. 

"I announce it like that too." Yeonjun replies. "Face cards and 1-10 announce it like that." 

"Bunch of show-offs." 

"What does the Joker know about it?" Yeonjun teased before he could stop himself. He’s quite sure he’s not in teasing terms with Taehyun yet. But he knows that if Beomgyu and Kai fancy this young vampire, sooner or later, he will meet him on a deeper level too. 

"I know, I am ignorant, right?" Taehyun replies in reference to what Yeonjun told him that day. It made the King beside him purse his lips. 

"I'm sorry about that. Hungry vampires can be wild and feisty, and not in a good way. I sincerely apologize." Vampires unable to balance their diet or have an inconsistent one tend to get overrun by the traditional instincts of a vampire which includes getting temporal, savage, and even dangerous to humans and their own kind.

"So you're only nice because we were fed tons before coming here." Taehyun teases. Now that Yeonjun is sincerely apologizing, Taehyun can see himself forgiving him and forgetting what happened.

"I'm normally nice." Yeonjun defends. "And I'm glad we can talk like this." 

Taehyun shrugs. "Okay, apology accepted." Yeonjun almost cheered when Taehyun continued talking. "Once we clear this game." 

Yeonjun grinned at him and started stretching. 

"I chose our first square." Mingi called their attention as he’s standing on a random square in front of them. The two looked at the ground on his feet and the surrounding squares around it. 

"You should wait for us before deciding like that." Yeonjun told him.

"I was born lucky." Mingi responds confidently. 

"Well yes, because you opened up a lot of squares, more chances to know which ones have bombs in them." Taehyun says while looking at the squares surrounding Mingi. Most of them have numbers on top while a few are blank but all of them have changed to gray. "Let's put two flags beside the numbers 3 and 2. And then in front of those two number 1s." 

"Why?" Yeonjun asks. 

"What do you mean why?" 

"I'm simply asking why you think we should do that?" 

"Because there are bombs in them." Taehyun explains. 

"The numbers tell us how many bombs are around them. This square," Taehyun pointed at the number three. "Means there are three bombs around it. As it's on the edge of the field and deducting the revealed square from both sides of it," Taehyun pointed at numbers 5 and 2 beside the number 3, "It means the rest of the unrevealed three squares are bombs. Number three represents three bombs, which are the squares we shouldn't step on. So we should put flags to mark it." 

Yeonjun blinks at him.

"I'll just do what you say because I don't really get it, but later on I will catch up and help you think." Yeonjun takes the flags organized in a bag, and follows Taehyun's instructions. 

"Who'll be stepping next?" Mingi asks, obviously not trying to comprehend whatever Taehyun explained. 

"I'll do it." Taehyun stepped forward and stood up in front of the number 2. His step opened a few squares. His mind decided on the next step but before he could say it, he was greeted with the anticipating face of Yeonjun looking at him expectantly with flags set on his both hands. 

"Put a flag here and here." He says. "Then step over there." 

Yeonjun obediently did as told and followed along. 

Mingi on the other hand yelped softly as he could finally move his feet again. Taehyun realized their feet were indeed immobilized once their turn was done. 

"Mingi, put two flags beside Yeonjun and then step here." 

"Can I test my luck one more time?" Taehyun's bright mood dropped as he watched Mingi take a step on a different square and without a warning, splutters of blood flew on their track uniforms and faces. 

Now Taehyun found out why they were fed before playing— so they won't crave other players' blood flying around. That's when Taehyun also realized more explosions were happening on other fields of players.

One knowing look from Yeonjun sent shivers down his spine. He should never fuck this up or his human blood will fly everywhere and he'll be dead. If Mingi gets a taste of his blood, he doesn’t know what accident might happen that could result in the whole school finding out about his incomplete vampire transformation.

A force knocked them back to the starting line and as if nothing happened, Mingi stepped on a random square with blood dripping on his side where his left arm was just a moment ago. He doesn't seem to be feeling any discomfort.

"Mingi, take this fucking seriously." Yeonjun fumes. 

"What did I do?" Mingi asks, pretending to be innocent. "Come on! This game is so fun!" He laughs. 

"Taehyunah, where do I step on?" Yeonjun asks. 

Taehyun took the flags from Yeonjun's hands and planted a few beside the revealed squares. 

"You can safely step here." Taehyun directed. 

As more squares were revealed, he planted more flags and chose a square to step on. 

Next was Mingi again so Taehyun held his breath after telling Mingi where he should put the flags and which square to step on next. Surprisingly, the Jack of Hearts listened to him and stepped on a safe square. 

Yeonjun went next and continuously followed Taehyun's directions. As the game went on smoothly, Taehyun slowly got confident that they could finish the field easily. Until he realized he was wrong.

“There should be three bombs around Mingi.” Taehyun pointed below the Jack of Hearts. “Why are there four flags around you? This isn’t adding up.” Taehyun bit his lower lip.

“Maybe you made a mistake.” Mingi shrugs. “Don’t worry, I’ll take it from here.”

“Are you sabotaging the team, Mingi?” Yeonjun accuses the Jack.

It’s too late to stop Mingi from stepping behind him and before Taehyun knew it, another splatter of blood came his way and they’re being sent back to the starting line again. 

“Oh shit.” Mingi just laughs, flapping both of what’s left on his uniform sleeves with his non-existent hands in the air.

“Are you alright?” Taehyun asks Mingi. Not really sure where to put his hands to check on Mingi. His state looks painful but the only change on the Jack’s face is the blush Taehyun doesn’t know if it came from his discomfort or if he genuinely enjoys feeling the pain. 

“Totally fine. I’ve had worse injuries than this.” Mingi flapped more of his sleeves making drops of blood go all over the place. Taehyun managed to avoid it going to his mouth as he doesn’t want to consume blood from a vampire’s exploded fucking arms.

“How can anything be much worse than this?”

Instead of answering, Yeonjun walks towards Mingi. Taehyun flinches hearing the first implication of pain from the Jack as a loud scream fills the whole gym. Taehyun can only watch seeing Yeonjun grab both ends of Mingi’s shoulders where his arms were supposed to be.

“Do another mistake again and you’re dead.” Yeonjun warns with a stern voice even Taehyun steps back a little. He squeezes both of the shoulders again and Taehyun can only flinch as Mingi screams his lungs out.

“The timer.” Taehyun managed to mutter. Yeonjun looked up to the monitor above Soobin and clicked his tongue as he pushed Mingi back. He’s not sure if they have enough time to finish the game but he knows he needs to learn how to play asap.

While letting Mingi recover his composure to play again, Yeonjun walks and stands up beside Taehyun. He crossed both his arms after wiping them on his uniform and bit on his thumb nail to try and think hard. He kept looking up at the monitor to reread the instructions.

“Do you need help understanding?” Taehyun asks carefully.

“You already showed me how to play.” Yeonjun looks at him. “I’m not always dumb like this. But hurting a Heart seems to do the trick. I think I know how to play now.” He flashed a playful smirk that eased Taehyun’s tense shoulders.

“I’ll ask about your grudge against the Hearts later. But for now, we should resume playing this game.” 

The thought of speaking to Taehyun again even after the game seems to also cheer Yeonjun up. Besides, clearing the game would also mean he’s forgiven him as well.

“Go first this time?” Yeonjun gestured to the field which made Taehyun walk slowly in front with a smug smile. He confidently stepped forward to reveal more squares and the King gave an approving nod.

Next, Yeonjun glared at Mingi again and gestured for him to go next. Without another word, Mingi stepped into a square after hearing the directions from Taehyun.

Taehyun knows better, so the continuous progress of their game didn’t make him any less anxious. He also kept a watchful eye on Mingi’s direction in case he made a mistake again. 

“Do I step here?” Yeonjun asks as his turn comes and he patiently anticipates Taehyun’s approval or disagreement. The square he’s pointing at is beside the number 4 which means around it is four bombs. Three flags are already placed on its sides and three squares are revealed which only means only one bomb is left to be avoided among the two unflagged squares. But one side of them has a number 1 on it and that one bomb is already flagged so this one square should be safe because the bombs around it have already been revealed. 

The small nod assured Yeonjun before he finally stepped on an unflagged square on his own. He landed successfully without any bomb explosion making him giggle like a kid and if his feet weren’t immobilized, Taehyun is sure he would’ve jumped around cheerfully.

“You didn’t solve the whole puzzle.” Taehyun pointed out jokingly. “You’re too happy.” He teased.

“But I did choose the right square.” Yeonjun proudly responded with a little dance.

“You sure did. Great job, King!” The praise completely hit Yeonjun like a truck that he immediately shied away and blush.

“Can I also guess the next square?” And just like that, the cheerful atmosphere dissipated and their heads turned towards Mingi who’s stepping next. “This one?”

“It will be risky to guess which squares have the bombs so if we’re unsure, it’s better to just choose another spot.” Taehyun rambled, obviously not trusting whatever Mingi chooses.

“Alright, I’m choosing this because it’s calling to me.”

The silence despite Mingi’s step almost relieved Taehyun and Yeonjun. But moments after, the three of them got swept off their feet for the third time into the starting line.

“What the hell?” Yeonjun questions, looking at Soobin’s direction who’s been watching the games from the stage. Then he turned to Mingi. “You’re purposely fucking this up, aren’t you?” Yeonjun fumed as he charged toward the Jack of Hearts, not caring about the situation of the vampire currently missing both of his arms. It will heal on its own after a few weeks anyway, with vampires’ acquired regeneration skills. They also have talented healers that can heal physical injuries such as this. 

“Why would I though?” Mingi defended, as Yeonjun was grabbing on his collar. The annoying smirk on Mingi’s mouth pisses the King of Spades off.

“You wish to feast on Taehyun’s blood and meat. Especially that stupid fucking King of yours.” The smug look on Mingi’s face drops hearing the disrespect to his King, Guwon. 

“Are you sure you’re talking like that about the King of Hearts?” Mingi warns. Despite the lack of both hands, Mingi still managed to show restraints as he emitted sparks and zaps all over his body. His skill is Electricity.

“And if I am?” Yeonjun inches even closer to Mingi, not even a bit fazed by Mingi’s attempts to shock him. Yeonjun can tolerate it well, especially with the Jack being injured like this affecting the ability of his skill. 

Before a big stupid fight could escalate between the King of Spades and the Jack of Hearts, Taehyun taps onto Yeonjun's shoulder to get his attention. He caught a bit of Mingi’s electricity so he immediately took his hand back while trying to play it off. So Yeonjun is indeed a powerful vampire being unaffected by Mingi’s skill, meanwhile, a little shock like that seems to almost make him pass out.

“We need to continue playing before we run out of time. Fighting Mingi could only make this game worse than it is.”

Yeonjun glares at Mingi one last time before releasing him, making the Jack step backward as he deactivated his skill.

“How come he didn’t explode again? I would love to punch his injured ass fresh from the explosion.”

Taehyun looked up at the monitor and read, “The rule said: The first mistake explodes your right arm; 2nd mistake explodes your left arm; the 3rd mistake is a warning, and; the 4th mistake explodes both your feet. ” Taehyun quoted. “Mingi got the warning before both his feet explode in his next mistake.”

“ Four mistakes of a player means losing the game but the rest can continue playing. ” Yeonjun continued reading. “Should we just sabotage this jerk instead so he completely loses this fucking game while we continue on? One mistake and he’s fucking over.”

“We only have 30 minutes left. I don’t think we have the luxury to focus on getting him out. We should avoid him dragging this game longer than it should be.” Taehyun sighs. “Why is he doing this?” He looked back disappointingly at Mingi who’s glaring at Yeonjun from where he was standing.

“Hearts aren’t your friends.” Yeonjun simply responded. 

They did tell him that Hearts aren’t to be trusted. Yeonjun, Kai, and Beomgyu did. But his choice to see it for himself took over him that he still befriended and trusted Guwon and his friends. Now, it seems like it’s backfiring at him and he made a mistake not listening to Kai, the first vampire who saved him and his most trusted in this school; Beomgyu, the vampire who’s only taken care of him from the moment he first woke up in this place; and now Yeonjun, who’s trying to save him from a pinch and potential danger of being found out by the whole school.

“We should just start.” Taehyun anxiously walked toward the starting line until a tug on his wrist halted him in his steps. He looked back at Yeonjun who’s smiling at him warmly. As if they don’t have less than 30 minutes left before the game ends. As if he hadn’t made the wrong decision of trusting new vampires he just met. As if his blood and flesh are not about to be feasted by the whole school once he fucks this up.

The warm smile of the King of Spades heals him in a way he can’t explain.

“Let’s do this.” Yeonjun encourages and Taehyun nods confidently at him.

The small fight seemed to make Mingi take the game seriously as their team slowly advanced up to the middle of the field. Again. They’ve been here twice before and any minute now, Mingi could decide to mess this up again. At least with Taehyun and Yeonjun’s combined strategies, they made it faster than they did on their first tries. While doing so, Yeonjun kept his eyes on the Jack so he wouldn’t make any more disruption to their progress. Mingi properly placed the flags according to their direction, but he’s like a ticking time bomb with his slow movements of obviously dragging the game longer. 

“In here?” Yeonjun asks Taehyun before he steps on a square.

“You got it perfectly now.” Taehyun compliments him. “But some spots can still be tricky so we need to be careful.”

“Of course.” Yeonjun agrees. 

“15 minutes.” Taehyun lets out a deep breath. “And we still have half the field to finish.” He anxiously added.

“Is that enough time if you start the game over? Like with two stupid players.” 

A bucket of ice-cold water is poured over Taehyun’s head as his neck snaps in Mingi's direction.

“Are you fucking serious?!” Taehyun shouted shakily.

And just like that, they’re being pushed out of the field as a big splatter of blood coats them again.

Mingi completely lost his four limbs but he still managed to laugh hysterically in the ground while looking up at Taehyun’s fuming face.

“You piece of–” Taehyun stood up from the ground and put all of his rage and anxiety towards the kick he sent towards Mingi, purposely aiming towards his fresh wounds. The Jack screamed in agony as he rolled a few times until he hit a concrete wall.

“I support beating his shit out 100% but darling, we have 14 minutes left.” Yeonjun held Taehyun back from running towards Mingi to give him another kick. The mention of the time left snaps Taehyun out of his rage to look up at the timer.

“In 14 minutes I’m either gonna be eaten by your kind at the banquet or stay in this godforsaken school to play another games in the next months.” 

They both rushed towards the starting line again but before Taehyun could step at the first square in a rush, Yeonjun held his wrist to call his attention.

“Calm down. You’re not getting eaten or feasted on in the banquet. We won’t let them do that to you, Taehyun.” Yeonjun placed reassuring hands on Taehyun’s face to make him look up and focus on his eyes. “Beomgyu and Kai would kill me and Soobin won’t even stop them if that happens. But a war is the last resort–”

“A war?!”

“We need to finish this game. Do you trust me?” Yeonjun asks gently. Looking straight into Taehyun’s eyes and as if conversing through those piercing stares at each other, Taehyun nods.

“I do. I should’ve from the start.”

“Shush, what matters is now.” Yeonjun looked to the field and then up the stage where Soobin is, and then back to Taehyun. “I kinda have an idea of what your skill is.” Yeonjun continued. Why he’s changing the topic again when they’re supposed to finish this game as soon as possible, Taehyun isn’t sure.

“Can it help us now?” Taehyun asks.

Yeonjun nods before letting go of Taehyun’s face to hold his hand.

“I think you can mimic other vampires’ skill when they use it on you.” Taehyun tilted his head sideways and before he could ask questions, Yeonjun continued explaining. “You got Jay’s Amplification when he tried to awaken your skill. Maybe it’s already been awakened but it’s basically not your skill so he wasn’t able to read it on you. When I answered your question wrong that day, I felt my skill weaken just like how Jay’s Amplification works. And then you teleported out of my office, which is Kai’s skill. He used it on you when you traveled to come here.” When he couldn't think of anything more to add, Yeonjun pursed his lips. “At least that’s what I came up with. And Soobin won’t confirm nor deny my speculations when I told them.”

“Them?”

“With Beomgyu and Kai.”

Taehyun nods.

“Alright, I have questions but we have 13 minutes left on the clock. What do you want me to do?”

“Mimic my power, Superhuman Speed. We will try to play this game at high speed and hope the revealing of the numbers on the ground can catch up. Though sound can’t travel as fast as us so we have to go back to normal speed if we wish to talk.” Yeonjun breathes out. “Do you trust me to play this game as efficiently as you?”

Taehyun lightly squeezes Yeonjun’s hand on his. “Not as good as me, but you’ll manage.” Taehyun teases to lighten up the mood a little.

“I’ll take that.” Yeonjun responded with a smile.

“Alright, how do I mimic your skill?”

“I’ll hug you and run you around this field. In that way, I’m activating it on you.” Yeonjun releases Taehyun’s hand.

“Okay.”

Yeonjun inches closer to Taehyun while sliding his hands on both sides of Taehyun’s waist to lock it on his back. The proximity sent Taehyun’s heart in a frenzy sending bright red paint on both his cheeks and ears. He can’t be a blushing mess like this with a single hug.

“Close your eyes.”

“What?” What is going on?

“Some small debris might poke your eyes if we start running fast around this place. We’ll run to the stage so I can give Soobin a little kiss and then we’ll get back here. It’ll all happen in a second.”

He’ll kiss Soobin, not him. Got it. Wait, why would he kiss Soobin? But he kept the question to himself and just closed his eyes. 

In a flash, he felt his feet getting off the ground with his mind and stomach flipping upside down, and before he could stop himself from throwing up, he’s back on his feet again and released from Yeonjun’s tight hug on him. He struggled to stand up and tried to throw up nothing until he collected back his senses and looked up at Yeonjun’s disheveled hair.  

Taehyun instinctively looked to the stage and saw a few papers and dust flying around the gymnasium. Soobin touched his lips and fixed his hair with a glare towards their direction.

“I assume the kiss was a success?” Taehyun asks. 

Yeonjun shrugs. “Can you test your skill? Or my skill? Our skill?” Yeonjun shook his head, “Don’t worry, it will seem like the world slows down around you instead of you speeding randomly in a direction.”

That assured Taehyun and he immediately tried to do so, just purposely setting his mind on speeding up, and when the world around him indeed slowed down as he walked towards the side of the gym, a glimpse of hope sparked in him. They might actually make this work. 

A tap on his shoulder almost made him jump in surprise and he saw Yeonjun beside him waving. He tried to say something but nothing came out of his mouth. Yeonjun pointed back at their field and he followed him back there until the world resumed moving normally.

“Let’s do this.”

Taehyun stepped first in the starting line choosing a random square and Yeonjun followed suit without any direction after placing a few flags here and there. The process is so fast that Taehyun is sure he wouldn’t catch any of this if he hadn't mimicked Yeonjun’s Superhuman Speed. They continued to alternately place flags and step on squares with minimal disruptions of thinking about the next moves.

After a while, Yeonjun slashed a hand on his neck and Taehyun was confused at first before he deactivated his speed.

“That should be our sign to stop with the speed.” Yeonjun says after making sure Taehyun is at normal speed again.

“Alright,” Taehyun agrees. “Do you wanna say something?”

“This spot is tricky. I don’t know which square should be flagged.” Yeonjun pointed down and Taehyun immediately examined the squares.

“If you can’t distinguish the number in a square, you should try the others beside it. It’s still efficient that way because we won't have to go back and check it again later.”

“Alright so, here,” Yeonjun plants a flag down two squares until he finds an available spot he’s certain to be safe. He looked up to the time, 10 minutes. “Let’s speed up again.”

They continued to play the game with occasional stops whenever Yeonjun wasn't sure of his moves. 

They might actually pull this off.

Almost 10 meters before the end, Yeonjun gave a sign to stop the speeding again and when they got to normal speed, Taehyun anticipated a question from Yeonjun ever patiently.

“We’re almost finishing.” Yeonjun starts. “So I just wanted to apologize again for being an ass.”

Taehyun scoffed playfully. “And there’s no other time to say this than when we’re almost done with the game.” He says sarcastically without malice in his voice.

“You promised to forgive me when we clear this game. I need reassurance.”

“I didn’t forget about that. Besides, I already forgave you. I know I can trust you.”

“You need to work on your habit of easily trusting people. Even me! Promise to observe every vampire you meet first.”

Taehyun let out a chuckle.

“Okay, fine. Since you've been nice to me all of a sudden since the start of this game.” Taehyun looked up at the clock, six minutes left.

“It’s because of three reasons.” Alright, they’re wasting time but these three things caught Taehyun’s curiosity so maybe they can waste another minute for this.

“Three reasons why you’re nice to me?” Taehyun mindlessly looked down at the ground and chose to step on a square he knows is safe. Yeonjun saw him do that and followed his lead, also choosing a square before responding.

“First, because I promised Beomgyu. He hates me right now but he’ll get over it later once he sees us reconciling. I know Kai is also pissed at me when Beomgyu told him about what I did but that guy doesn’t show it.” Taehyun nods as he places more flags around his square.

“Are you guys—” Taehyun doesn’t know what to add.

“That’s right.” That’s all the confirmation he needed. “It was a long story. We can talk about it in detail later.”

“In detail…” Taehyun chuckled and made his move to the next square. Yeonjun is next to choose a square and he focused on that for a moment before looking at Taehyun again.

“The second reason, is you’re fascinating. I can clearly see how you captivated those three the moment they laid their eyes on you.”

“Okay, it’s getting cheesy now.” Taehyun laughs awkwardly with a blush on his cheeks, not used to big compliments, especially the poetic and straight-to-the-point ones.

“And third, you don’t smell like Guwon anymore.” At least the third reason made Taehyun laugh. 

“Right, the hatred towards the Hearts.” Taehyun adds.

“We have a reason… for that…” Yeonjun trailed off and stopped moving for a second as his smile dropped. “Taehyun, can you reach your hand to me?” Yeonjun extended his arm to Taehyun’s direction who’s a few squares away. It’s currently Taehyun’s turn so Yeonjun can’t move his feet.

Taehyun lifted a brow and was a bit taken aback when Yeonjun flashed his fangs out. Why is he getting worked up?

Wait…

He doesn’t smell… like Guwon anymore?

The King of Hearts’ blood. His protection ran out and is gone now.

“Taehyun, give me your damn hand.” Yeonjun repeated and Taehyun snapped out of his thinking. 

He’s starting to smell like a human right now. The last thing he should need is Yeonjun needing his hand. For what? Does Yeonjun want to bite him? Does he want to drink his blood now that he smells like a human? So he would taste more like a human?

No. He trusts Yeonjun second to Kai and Beomgyu. 

“You need to work on your habit of easily trusting people. Even me!”

Yeonjun’s own words repeated in Taehyun’s mind. He anxiously looked around every vampire he could see playing the game. Can they smell him in this distance?

“Taehyun. Trust me.” Yeonjun calmly stated.

Can he?

He shouldn’t. 

In an attempt to avoid Yeonjun’s reach towards him, Taehyun stepped back.

The last thing he needs right now is to gather attention to himself. So when an explosion in their area rang in his ears and sent his arm and human blood flying around them, even towards Yeonjun’s uniform and face, his eyes could only widen in horror with a sharp pain growing on his shoulder.

Taehyun stepped on a bombed square.

—

Taehyun snapped out of his trance when a pair of hands softly tapped on his cheeks. He made eye contact with Yeonjun with a face full of concern for him. What happened?

His arm exploded and they’re sent to the starting line again.

Taehyun felt an agonizing sting on his shoulder but did his best to avoid looking at his missing arm to prevent himself from passing out. 

“Taehyun. You smell so much like a human right now.” Yeonjun says calmly to inform Taehyun.

“I’m about to die.” Taehyun said more to himself than to Yeonjun as he looked up to the ceiling from lying on the ground, his heart tightening on his chest. There’s so much he wanted to do and explore as a vampire. He hasn't even shown off his cool skill to Beomgyu or Kai. What would their reaction be? What more fun games are there in this school for vampires that he’s yet to experience? Is this really the end? He’s gonna die in the vampires’ stomach as his life slowly leaves his human body.

“Silly, you have me.” Yeonjun chuckles humourlessly. “It’s not too late, honey. I can still give you my protection.” 

Taehyun stared into Yeonjun’s eyes. 

“Bite me, Taehyunah.”

Taehyun looked around. Mingi is helplessly watching them across a few meters with his eyes burning red. Can he smell him in this distance? He probably can.

Yeonjun raised Taehyun up to sit down. When Taehyun could only stare at him without any clue on what to do, the King helped to move his legs closer. He straddled both of Taehyun’s thighs around his torso without breaking eye contact.

Taehyun knows what to do. He’s done it with Guwon before. 

“Thank you.” Taehyun darted his eyes toward the skin of Yeonjun's neck. It’s beautifully scarred with bite marks all over every part he can see, probably courtesy of Beomgyu, Kai, and Soobin. He scanned it over again until he found a spot free of those scars. A spot he can have for himself.

His dull teeth and small fangs have slowly got sharp after a few weeks. It should be enough to pierce through Yeonjun’s skin but he’s certain it will still hurt as much as it did to Guwon’s neck. 

Taehyun cleared his mind of everything and breathed out. After kissing the skin with a small peck of his lips, he slowly opened his mouth and dug his teeth into Yeonjun’s flesh.

The King let out a soft gasp as his hands traveled behind Taehyun’s back to keep him balanced. He closed his eyes as he felt the contact of Taehyun’s tongue on his skin and his eager sucking of his blood. This much blood on Taehyun’s system should be enough. But he tightened his grip on Taehyun's back to keep him in his arms.

Taehyun moans softly, feeling Yeonjun’s hands on his back. The King’s blood is sweet on his tongue he couldn’t get enough of it so he lingered there some more.

The game. He might smell like a strong vampire right now, but if his semi-human blood is still mixed in everybody's drink at the banquet, his life will still be in danger.

Taehyun slowly pulled away from Yeonjun’s skin with one final lick on his mark and sat up properly. He made eye contact with Yeonjun’s glazing eyes with a warm smile on his lips.

“I’m glad you smell like me now.” Yeonjun thumbed the few droplets of his blood on Taehyun’s chin and lower lip to help him clean the mess but when he was about to wipe it on his uniform, Taehyun unceremoniously grabbed his hand up. Yeonjun’s eyes widened watching Taehyun put his lips around his thumb to suck on the few remaining blood in it. His thumb was not exactly clean, but it didn’t stop Yeonjun’s mind from going haywire as the sight unfolded in front of him.

When Taehyun was done, he popped the thumb off of his mouth. 

“Thank you.” Taehyun repeated.

“M-My pleasure.” Yeonjun helped Taehyun up and they stood side-by-side watching the timer.

“Four minutes.”

“We can do it.” Yeonjun encouraged him. “This time, we shouldn’t stop from speeding up and continuously move forward.”

Taehyun nods. “Will you be alright?”

“I’ve had enough practice, darling.”

Taehyun smirked at that and faced forward again. 

“We’re clearing this.” 

It all went by in a flash. At the last minute, a few bombs exploded in the field beside them but those explosions never came to theirs. Taehyun trusted Yeonjun to never make any mistake as he focused on his own moves, always ready to move to the next squares whenever Yeonjun’s turn finished. 

A loud buzz filled the whole gymnasium just in time after Taehyun stepped outside of their field. The squares they stepped at lit up before them and showed how they cleared the game.

“You did it!”

Taehyun was knocked out of his feet from the impact of Beomgyu tackling him. Taehyun wrapped his sole arm around his back to avoid falling down as he looked at where Beomgyu came from. There he saw Kai waving at him with the widest smile.

“What are you doing here, Beomgyu?”

Beomgyu pulled away from his tight hug and faced Taehyun. “I have no idea at first too. But Hyuka teleported me here just as I was resting from finishing the Queen’s game because he said you needed help.” And then he inches closer to whisper in his ear. “I smelled your gorgeous human smell immediately as I got here and decided I wanted to gatekeep it to myself so I nullified everyone else’s sense of smell. Except the motherfuckers.” Taehyun figured it was Yeonjun, Kai, and Soobin.

“I saw Mingi getting agitated from my smell though.” Taehyun remembered the scary state of the Jack from earlier.

“He smelled a glimpse of you because he was close to you when you got knocked to the starting line. Don’t worry, it was just a bit and he doesn’t have any proof to tell everyone it was you.” 

Taehyun looked at the field and indeed, no trace of blood was found anywhere after the game, even outside the field.

“Right, let’s heal that arm of yours in the Spades office. I know a reliable healer who wouldn’t dare get interested in your blood.”

Teahyun left the gymnasium after seeing the announcement of points. He teleported out of there with Kai after promising Beomgyu and Yeonjun that they’ll catch up to them after ‘finishing a business’.

After arriving at the office, Kai let Taehyun lie on the couch with his head on his lap. Taehyun’s shoulder still stings from the explosion of his arm but he can manage to tolerate the pain as he already regenerated a skin to stop it from bleeding. 

“You should sleep and take a rest, Taehyunnie.” Kai told him softly.

Taehyun hummed in response and closed his eyes as he let Kai play with his hair and let the exhaustion of the game melt away.