the road again

           he could see the resignation in the boy’s eyes — could practically taste his defeat with every breath he expelled. he should have known better than to run; a predator of seung’s caliber derived nothing but sheer enjoyment from the chase, bloodlust and desire often vying for control. 

           and out of all the prey he’d hunted over the centuries, little jin-woon was, by far, his favorite. attractive, with a slender build and a naive disposition, the scent of his blood intoxicatingly sweet, he’d hoped the ailuran would try to evade his notice once more, intensely aroused by the thought of capturing him at last. but instead, he’d decided to end it prematurely, taking up residence in a place that should have been condemned long ago. the state of the property hadn’t seemed to bother the boy, though. to make matters worse, he even seemed ignorant of the various looks of interest he’d garnered over these past few weeks, and that — that offered more than enough incentive for seung to take control of his fate. no way in hell did he intend to let him stay there a minute longer, not with the threat of someone else touching his prey hanging precariously over his head.

          “why not?” he husked, his deep baritone tinged with barely banked hunger as he pressed his body more firmly against the boy’s smaller one, a rasping growl rumbling deep in his chest at the warmth he could feel emanating from jin-woon’s skin. “everything.” lips brushing against the arch of his neck, seung’s tongue flicked out to taste his skin, his hunger demanding as much. “i want everything.” and he wouldn’t settle for less, the proof of that lying in a pool of his own blood and piss. jin-woon was his, and he wouldn’t allow anyone to come between them. “kill you?” lifting his head long enough to pin the oblivious jin-woon with an incredulous scowl, seung cupped his chin with firm fingers, holding him still so that he couldn’t avert his gaze from his. “i’m not going to kill you.” but take him? that, he planned to do. then, without warning, he sank his teeth into the boy’s neck, a groan escaping as the warm, tinny taste of blood exploded on his tongue — enriched from generations and generations of ailurans. “mine,” he growled into his neck, lapping up as much blood as he could manage, stubbornly refusing to let a single drop go to waste.

▎had he possibly done something in a past life for fate to loathe him so? how else could anyone explain away this travesty of a situation?             he’d never intended to catch the eye of such a dangerous predator — had only wanted to distance himself from the overwhelming feelings of inadequacy and failure. but somewhere down the road, he must have angered or offended a superior being, and now he was paying for it. and the worst part of all was the fact that even with the proof of seung’s brutality staring him in the face — the human hadn’t moved an inch since he’d taken that vicious beating from a revenant hell-bent on sending a message; was he even breathing? — he still managed to look more like some conquering warlord than the violent, cruel monster jin-woon knew him to be.        “i-i don’t understand,” he mumbled as he tried — and failed — to ignore the strangely intense prickling sensation running up his spine, the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. feline by nature, his instincts were keener than some, and those same instincts were demanding he plant a knee in seung’s groin then quickly get out of dodge — and, of course, lay low for awhile, at least until the revenant finally gave up and abandoned the chase; maybe then he’d leave him alone to find some other prey to hunt for a couple years, giving him room to breathe and time to think of another game plan. a better game plan. “why can’t you just leave me alone?” he whispered, a desperate plea in his tone — but then nearly choked on a gasp when the other male suddenly grasped his chin with long, calloused fingers, his strong grip impossible to break free of. “you’re not?” jin-woon stared up at him in tentative disbelief. if the plan wasn’t to kill him ... then what was it?

stepping out of the convenience store, muninn bites back a crow of relief. the usual pounding in his temples isn’t as harsh today, the voices softened, not as … disruptive. that in itself is plenty to be relieved about. 

but once he notices the boy standing a few feet away, holding some kind of device to his face — more specifically, his eyes — curiosity takes hold.   ❛  what’re you doing?  ❜   he GLANCES from the boy to the woman and child, both of whom are in his direct line of sight.   ❛   is this what the humans call investigative work? are you spying on them?  ❜ 

▎ refocusing the picture with nimble fingers, jin-woon snapped a couple shots, hoping that out of the few he snapped, at least one would emerge victorious — or at the very least, passable. he would have shot a few more if not for the deep baritone that suddenly sounded to his right. lowering his camera, he offered the stranger an affable smile. investigative work? not quite. but he supposed he could understand why he’d mistaken his current task for spying. “no, no — i just like taking pictures of people and things in a natural setting,” he answered, genuine in his love for photography. “they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but i’m actually aiming for five thousand.” at minimum. in his opinion, a picture wasn’t worth much if it couldn’t tug on one’s heartstrings in one way or another.      but then, as if just realizing what the other male had alluded to, a curious frown grazed jin-woon’s lips. “are you ... not human?” now that he thought about it, this one didn’t give off the feel of a human. strange how he hadn’t noticed before.

He’d known Jin-Woon was in town almost from the time of his arrival, his brother hunting him down before he’d even settled on a place to sleep for the night. And even though he’d wanted to order the brat home, afraid that trouble would not only find his sweet, naive brother but whisk him away to parts unknown, Ki-Woong hadn’t had the heart to crush his dreams of starting anew with a clean slate. 

“So is this what you do with your free time now?” With a quirked brow, he rested his chin against the boy’s shoulder and squinted into the viewfinder, trying to figure out what had him so captivated. “You and I have very different definitions of cute,” Ki-Woong muttered, wrinkling his nose as he watched the woman mop up globs of applesauce sticking to her son’s face. “Look at the mess on that one. I’ve seen muck cleaner than that.”

 ▎ki. big brother to the rescue. a smile tugging on his lips, jin-woon quickly snapped a shot of the picturesque scene of the mother and child — before lowering the camera, allowing it to fall back into place around his neck. because if anyone could provide an adequate distraction, it’d be ki-woong. “not just in my free time,” he shot back proudly. he couldn’t make it as a human guardian — those tests had been extremely difficult — but as a photographer, he was determined to be second to none. “it’s my job now. humans pay good money for professional pictures.” on average, they were willing to pay a hundred dollars for a candid shot of city nightlife, tourism being such a big thing here; three to eight hundred dollars for darker-themed photos. “and i think it’s cute. you can clearly see the love she feels with every wipe.” a mother’s capacity for love was something to behold.

           he positively exuded fear, the sweet scent of it arousing the predator within. it reminded seung of their last encounter — when a pale-faced jin-woon had attempted to crawl out of the office window of the old, abandoned warehouse he’d carted him off to after the little cat had impetuously raked his claws down his cheek in a desperate bid for freedom. no one had drawn his blood in a long, long time, and feeling the sting from the bloody welts his clawing attack left behind clinched it for him. the ailuran, with his rich, intoxicating blood and innocent manner, belonged to him now. 

          “you live in a rat-infested hole. too many cloying, pungent scents have seeped into the walls.” for weeks, he’d tracked his scent to that very apartment building. but every time he’d gone inside, the overwhelming stench had distracted him, causing him to lose the trail. until he’d decided one night to watch from the roof of an adjacent building for his wayward prey to leave — and followed him. “말도하지 않습니다. you were hiding,” he growled as he kicked the useless lump of fat aside. then, with a vulturous smile and his head canted at a predatory angle, he stalked toward the boy, deliberately cornering him against the wall and skillfully cutting off all avenues of escape. “why move on when the game’s just begun?” lightly dragging the calloused pad of his index finger — left over from his human days as a warrior — down the ridge of his jugular vein, seung bent to press his nose into the crook of jin-woon’s neck, breathing in his scent. “you smell different — better.” only a fool would trade the better model in for an inferior one.

 ▎he wanted to refute his assertion — wanted to find some excuse as to why he’d chosen to entomb himself behind walls of filth and squalor. but nothing came to mind, and it irked him to say that. because seung was right. he had been hiding. he’d known the man would come looking for him as soon as he could — had known he’d track him down sooner or later. and so he’d deliberately selected the apartment with the worst living conditions and had readily agreed to move in on the condition that he overlook its poor state. the landlord had thought nothing of a seemingly poor freelance photographer choosing to shack up with neighbors that were likely to be found on america’s most wanted. he’d even appeared quite eager to accept the down payment — in cash — ignoring the fact that there was no credit history to be found in jin-woon’s background.      but all that methodical planning meant nothing in the end; seung still managed to find him despite the number of miles he’d put between them, and now he had no choice but to accept the inevitable — that shaking the revenant off his tail for a second time would be downright difficult, maybe even impossible. luck might have played a huge factor the first time, but he very much doubted it would again.

           crouched on the ledge of a building overlooking the alleyway his prey had just entered, seung followed the little cat’s movements — swift as they were — with an intensely focused, hungry gaze, primed to act — just waiting for the right, opportune moment to strike. when the humans had foolishly taken the boy from him, they’d unleashed a fury in him he hadn’t felt in centuries, not since he’d first awoken as a revenant and realized his wife had betrayed him. he’d searched high and low for the ailuran’s whereabouts, killing humans along the way. it wasn’t until he’d inadvertently caught a brief whiff of jin-woon’s sweet scent that he’d realized he was holed up in some hovel, working as a freelance photographer for disgusting cretins who looked upon him with lascivious eyes. but he couldn’t blame them. his kitten was … delectable.

           a delicious morsel that was currently struggling to get away from a man who outweighed him by at least two hundred pounds.

           a low, menacing growl climbing up his throat as soon as he caught sight of those pudgy fingers wrapped around the slender arm of his prey, seung straightened from his crouch, and without warning took to the skies, hopping from railing to railing — this was perhaps the only time fire escapes actually came in handy; for him — until his feet finally touched the ground, landing with a gracefulness that paid homage to the warrior he’d been once upon a time. then, seizing the bastard by the hair, he slammed his head into the brick wall, hard enough to crack it — then did it again and again, stopping only after his face had become so mangled that it would be unrecognizable even to his loved ones and the ones who knew him best. satisfied, his grip loosened, and the bleeding man dropped to the ground in a heap of listless limbs, dead to the world. 

           the threat neutralized, seung lifted his head to pin jin-woon with a wicked smile, a hint of the predator in his unsmiling gaze. “did you really think you could hide from me, little rabbit?”

  ▎city life could be frightening when at it alone, but jin-woon had been so sure he could manage. he was an adult — or so the ambush once claimed — who was perfectly capable of making his own decisions, even if those decisions led to dangerous, spine-tingling situations he would have done anything to avoid. but here he was, being accosted by some heavyset human bent on teaching him a lesson. his ailuran blood should have at least given him an edge — yet just the opposite had happened. was he really no match for a human, of all things? perhaps this was a sign that he was weak ... and foolish for running away. “please — just let me go,” he implored the man, ashamed that he would have to ask at all, let alone beg for it. “it was an accident.”      tugging on the fingers clenched tightly around his arm, jin-woon gave the larger male a beseeching look, hoping to appeal to his kinder side — if he had one. 

   ▎jin-woon’s head snapped up on reflex. “i — sorry?” he winced, trying to wiggle his arm free. but he was surprisingly strong — stronger than he’d anticipated. “i didn’t mean to ... honestly. i just want to go home.”