NAPE - 63

“You have to explain it for me to understand.”

“Doyoon and I have a close relationship. Not only do we sleep together, but we’re physically intimate too. Doyoon gives me his blood, and he lets me lick his neck.”

“Did you come here to set a fire in a single person’s heart?” Namwon irritably began to stack the silver bullets scattered on the table.

“Doyoon’s thirst cycle is back. And I’m a vampire who matches his dietary preference. He could just drink my blood. Why doesn’t he? Is there a reason he’s deliberately holding back? As far as I know, vampires drink each other’s blood when they become deeply involved. Why on earth won’t he drink my blood? He drank it in Seoul.”

“Oh wow, your speaking has become very fluent since coming to London. I guess that’s why they send people to study abroad, to get them talking.” Namwon genuinely marveled.

“Doyoon said he’d drunk the blood of others besides me. Was there a vampire he was more deeply involved with than me?” Vampires drink each other’s blood when they are in a deep relationship. From what Namwon had said about preferences before, Doyoon seemed to have met various people frequently. Among them, there must have been vampires. Could he have been serious with any of them? That thought made her stomach churn.

“Senior in a serious relationship? You think? There were tons of women he briefly encountered... Hmm, no, there weren’t. There really weren’t. No friends with benefits or anything.” Namwon, who had been mentioning women Doyoon had briefly encountered, abruptly clammed up when he saw Bibi’s chilling expression. Bibi suddenly felt upset. Her expression hardened as if she’d been doused with cold water, and she felt angry for no reason.

“Finish your sentence, Namwon. How many women did he briefly encounter?”

“Huh? Ah... Well, hmm. Why is he so stubbornly refusing to drink your blood? He drank it last time. Hmm...”

“Don’t equivocate. Namwon, you know a lot about Doyoon. Tell me about Doyoon’s past.” As Bibi grilled him, Namwon began to sweat.

“...I don’t know much either. Why are you asking me? Ask him yourself.”

“You two have known each other for a long time, so you must know, right?”

“We’ve known each other for a long time, but... we’ve only ever worked together as hunters. We’re, uh, strictly professional acquaintances!”

For that to be true, he seemed to know quite a bit about Doyoon... Bibi glared at Namwon with suspicious eyes.

“How did you two meet?”

“Uh, I graduated high school and had nothing to do. So I was looking for ways to make money and accidentally stumbled into the underworld. Somehow, I ended up in the physical combat side of things, and the association wanted to scout me? That’s where Kwon Doyoon found me. He asked if I wanted to be his direct junior. Said he’d treat me well. Damn, I fell for the devil’s whisper then.”

“How did you find out Doyoon was a vampire?”

“I went on an errand to his house, and I saw the senior carelessly drinking a blood pack. He didn’t even try to make excuses, just said, ‘Ah, you caught me.’ Then he went on about it. That’s when I asked him all sorts of questions and found out he was a pureblood vampire. For 10 years, doing various errands and cleaning up after him, I learned everything: that he had a title in London, his thirst cycle, the purpose of his association activities, and so on.”

“You’re a hunter, yet you work well with a vampire.”

“Anyway, it’s not like I’m doing this job with some great mission. I don’t hold any particular grudges. I mostly hunt strays, anyway.” Namwon, relieved that the topic of conversation had changed, dragged out his words as much as possible. Bibi sighed with a bored expression.

The tightness in her chest remained. Doyoon’s secrets, her unresolved past, her mother, and her biological father’s identity. Indeed, living as a hungry Socrates was harder than being a well-fed pig.

“Aren’t you going hunting? It sounds fun,” Namwon asked. Bibi hesitated, unwillingly, then sniffed the air.

“What’s this smell?”

A sweet yet... stale scent was subtly mixed in the room’s air. As she tilted her head, Namwon’s eyes widened, and he flared his nostrils.

“What smell?”

“This smell, don’t you smell it?”

Namwon shrugged, bewildered. It was a very, very faint scent, perhaps undetectable to humans. Normally, she would have ignored it, but a heavy, sluggish feeling was rising from deep within.

Judging that it would be best to leave quickly, she got down from the cabinet, but her vision blurred. Bibi stumbled and sharply raised her eyes.

“What is it...? Why am I so sleepy...?”

Namwon, too, seemed to notice something was wrong belatedly and shook his head. However, both of them were already staggering from sleepiness. It wasn’t natural drowsiness. It was a stimulating, overwhelming sleepiness, like food made with artificial sweeteners.

Her eyelids grew heavy and closed, and her head dropped deeply downward.

________________________________________

Cold, crisp fabric touched her skin. The cool temperature was pleasant, but a strong perfume scent from somewhere pricked her drowsy senses. Bibi, steeped in sleep, frowned and forced her eyelids open.

The first thing she saw was an opaque veil draped like a curtain. Beyond it, the space was very dim, like an old wine cellar, and decorations of red bricks, skulls, and roses stood out. It was a strange yet very familiar scene. Bibi suddenly sat up as if in a seizure and quickly looked around.

“Don’t be alarmed. Calm down, good girl...” A white hand reached through the veil and stroked Bibi’s cheek. Bibi blinked, gazing at the woman who had approached her. The woman, wearing a black dress with her hair styled in a spiral bun down to her shoulders, wore a white mask. Her face wasn’t visible, but a familiar scent told Bibi who it was.

“Isabel?”

“Yes, yes. It’s me.”

Knowing her identity, some of the tension eased. Bibi looked around and realized she was in a canopy bed.

“It smells strange. And I’m sleepy.”

“I’ve turned off the scent, so you’ll feel better soon. But Bibi, you were growling in your sleep. Like a dog.” Isabel chuckled.

“Why did you kidnap me? Where am I?”

“This is the basement of the Tudor family mansion. The method isn’t great, but I felt like I’d be late if I didn’t do this. You promised me, didn’t you? To participate in the charity event. Oh, actually, the charity event is over, and now the ‘Blood Ritual’ is about to begin.”

“Blood Ritual...?”

“Yes! It’ll be fun.”

Seeing Isabel’s bright smile, the Blood Ritual seemed like a very enjoyable event. Bibi desperately wanted to join.

“...But Doyoon doesn’t seem to want me to participate...” As Bibi hesitated, recalling Doyoon’s displeased expression, Isabel tilted her head in puzzlement.

“If you look closely, you follow Doyoon like a master. Why do you have to do that? You’re a pureblood vampire. You’re someone with free will. You have the right to do what you want. I invited you to the Blood Ritual. You can come.”

Even though Isabel didn’t know Bibi was from a hunting dog background, she accurately perceived her true nature. Bibi inwardly winced, as if her low birth had been exposed.

“No. I’m just trying to keep my promise.” Bibi wasn’t good at lying. She fidgeted under Isabel’s direct gaze and lowered her eyes.

“You know, don’t you? That he’s in a state of thirst right now,” Isabel said meaningfully. “Is it okay if Doyoon drinks someone else’s blood? A century ago, there were rumors that my son knew the taste of all the women’s blood in London.”

Isabel’s words made Bibi’s heart sink.

“No, that’s not allowed!” Bibi involuntarily shrieked. The thought of Doyoon drinking someone else’s blood was horrifying. She couldn’t tolerate him licking another’s neck, piercing them with his fangs, and giving pleasure to the one being bitten.

“You’re usually so indifferent, but you react quite passionately to something like this.”

“He hasn’t even drunk my blood yet... And the thought of him drinking someone else’s blood makes me sick.” Bibi’s red eyes burned fiercely.

“In the vampire world, mutual blood-drinking signifies a strong bond. However, the fact that Doyoon doesn’t drink your blood... personally, it seems he cherishes you quite a bit. It’s probably been 60 years since he last bit someone. Shall I tell you why he only insists on iron supplements and blood packs?”

“What is it?”

“Within the Tudor family’s genes, there’s a hunting instinct dozens of times stronger than other vampires. It’s a family trait. That’s why we have to control ourselves much more severely than others.”

Bibi recalled the self-control training she did with Doyoon. When he was young, he must have tried hard not to eat rabbits. Thinking of Doyoon groaning over a rabbit somehow seemed cute.

“Doyoon was a case with very good self-control. However... there’s a moment when that suppressed nature bursts forth, and that is... when he drinks blood. It’s not just about drinking blood; his aggression becomes so strong that he could completely sever the opponent’s neck. If it were a human, they would die, and if it were a vampire, they would be traumatized, so to speak. It seems he doesn’t want to do that to you.”

Isabel’s hand gently stroked Bibi’s head. Bibi made a thoughtful expression, then tilted her head.