Chapter Text
the time had finally come. sunoo was going to drink non-vampire blood for the first time and become a full fledged vampire.
for days the other boy had been complaining that he felt so thirsty he could die. now, it was just thirty minutes before dinner and his eyes had turned the same haunting shade of red that jungwon’s sometimes did. and they would not change back to normal.
“go upstairs. i’ll tell the nurses you weren’t feeling well and went to bed early. don’t look at anyone even if they speak to you. it’s better they think you’re rude than to see your eyes like that.” jungwon spoke in a hushed voice as he ushered sunoo out of the room. sunoo kept his eyes trained on the floor as niki watched him hurry up the stairs.
“he’s going to change tonight. he’s ready.” jungwon stated to the rest of them.
niki felt his stomach flutter. out of nervousness or excitement he couldn’t tell, perhaps it was both. it wasn’t him that anything would happen to, but this felt like the first big step towards leaving the orphanage.
thankfully, when the nurses came to fetch them for dinner, they begrudgingly accepted jungwon’s excuse. all of them were antsy during dinner and as they went about their nighttime routine. niki had never bathed so fast in his life and when he brushed his teeth he almost missed the sink when spitting in his rush to get back to the dorm.
once he arrived, the seven of them gathered in a little circle around jungwon’s bed. it’s owner sat down on it and pulled sunoo to sit next to him.
“alright, so tonight sunoo and i will go out like normal and find an animal for him to drink from. then we’ll come back here and i need all of you to be awake and ready. i have a feeling this is going to be painful so i may need you all to help.” jungwon spoke with authority, niki had no trouble believing he was the commander of the knights when he got like this.
“does anyone have any questions?” everyone shook their heads no. “okay. let’s get going then.”
jungwon and sunoo snuck out of the dorm the same as usual when they went hunting. the remaining five boys devolved into soft murmurs. their conversations didn’t have much substance, all of them had other things on their minds, but it helped pass the time. they waited for quite a long time for their friends’ return, niki began getting sleepy, yawning in the middle of his sentences. just as jay was bringing up something he was having trouble with in training, they heard the doorknob turn.
they all stiffened, unsure of if it was jungwon and sunoo coming back or if they had gotten too loud and alerted one of the nurses. they all relaxed upon seeing jungwon’s head poke through the doorway. he was carrying sunoo on his back, the latter looking quite dazed. actually jungwon didn’t look too well either, but that was the norm for him.
jungwon unceremoniously plopped sunoo down onto the boy’s own bed. he took off his shoes before tucking him in, muttering orders to the rest of them as he did so.
“jake, i need you to collect some handkerchiefs and go to the bathroom to wet them. i think he’s getting feverish, we need to cool him off. heeseung, go into my chest and get the silver flask, there’s water in it he’ll need to drink. niki i need you to stand guard by the door. sunghoon, jay, you come help me with him, i don’t know how bad it will get so i want you two on standby.” that authoritative tone made it’s return and niki and the others didn’t argue, getting straight to their given tasks.
jake tiptoed out of the room, a small pile of handkerchiefs in his arms. niki shut the door behind him, resting his back against it and sliding down until he was sitting against the door. niki turned his head so his ear was pressed against it to listen for any sounds. in the meantime, jungwon was stroking sunoo’s hair, brushing the boy’s damp bangs from his forehead. it was an unusual act of tenderness from jungwon, it made niki’s heart warm to see it.
sunoo lay prone on the bed, chest heaving with quick breaths. out of nowhere, he suddenly convulsed and sat up straight in the bed. his mouth opened in a silent cry and niki watched with a mix of horror and fascination as his canine teeth grew into elongated fangs.
jungwon moved as quick as lightning, letting sunoo bit down onto his hand to muffle the grunt that came after the growth of his fangs. sunoo remained clamped down on jungwon’s hand for a long while and jungwon allowed it. once he finally loosened his bite, jungwon removed his now bleeding hand, uncaring of the deep wounds in the appendage.
“it should be easier from here on.” jungwon explained. “his body is treating the transformation like an infection because of the medicine, i think. that’s probably why he’s so sick like this. heeseung could you hand me the flask?”
heeseung did as told and as jungwon was assisting sunoo with taking small sips, several soft knocks came at the door in quick succession. “it’s me. open up.” jake’s voice whispered.
niki quickly and quietly opened the door, jake stepping in and hurriedly passing jungwon one of the now wetted handkerchiefs. jungwon took it, setting the flask to the side. first, he wiped down sunoo’s face and neck, then his arms. then he took another cloth from the pile jake had placed on the lid of sunoo’s chest and folded it before laying it across the sickly boy’s forehead. he then grabbed the flask again and encouraged sunoo to drink a bit more. niki wasn’t sure why a vampire needed water but he wasn’t feeing like questioning jungwon’s actions.
jungwon sat next to sunoo and loosely held the latter’s hand in his, occasionally squeezing it to offer comfort. the others waited around nervously, trying to give sunoo space but not wanting to drift too far.
sunoo’s breaths eventually calmed down, slowing to a reasonable pace. “i think it’s mostly over now. you can all go to sleep now.” jungwon stated.
everyone seemed a but apprehensive but eventually agreed, falling back to their own beds, niki included. he laid down on his bed and let the soft noises of jungwon cleaning up soothe him to sleep. when he woke up in the morning, sunoo seemed normal, if not a little tired. it was over.