Off Guard

Yearning

[Narrator's pov]

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-"Three hours! Three damn hours stuck in that ridiculous position in the middle of the street!"

The fuming vampire yelled at the merman the moment he saw his face.

-"And they clearly weren't enough to teach you a lesson."

A strike from Taemin blasted the rock that was under Jinki a second ago, the former initially aiming at him but missing.

As soon as Jinki's head appeared out of the water surface, Taemin tried to deal another blow to him but failed again. The merman's swimming was too fast, even for a vampire.
A vampire who's under his hypnosis anyway.

BOOMSPLASH!...BOOMSPLASH!

BOOMSPLASH!BOOMSPLASH!BOOMSPLASH!

"STOOOP!!"

Taemin froze in place, just like when he first saw Jinki's eyes from up close. But this time it was the voice.

-"What is wrong with you?! Why the hell are you that aggressive?!"
-"No! The right question is: what the hell do you want from me?!" Taemin yelled back, hoping that the fury in his voice would conceal the fear that was growing inside him. He had never felt that vulnerable in centuries.

Seeing the turmoil in the younger man's eyes, Jinki softened a bit, but never let it show.

-"I was new in town and was trying to initiate a friendly conversation with someone, but noooo, you just had to act all mysterious and be a total jerk!"
-"Are you for real?! Can't I decline a conversation with someone just because they're friendly now?!"
-"You Could've Declined With Manners! I'm thousands of years older than you, for crying out loud, you insolent brat!"

Angry, Jinki threw a juice box he had been holding the whole time at Taemin.

The latter caught it and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at its labels.

"Real Human Blood. Don't act like a vampire, become one."

A dolled-up girl cosplaying as a vampiress was on the front side.

"Did he buy this from the black market for me??"

SPLAT!

The package exploded in his face.

When he opened his bloody eyelids, frustrated Jinki was no longer there.

This time though, instead of feeling rage and desire for revenge, he was relieved. Relieved that a powerful guy like him didn't turn out to want anything particular with him, and eventually left him alone.

But then he realized something. Something crucial that he needed and might've been able to obtain from that merman if he had gotten in his good books from the start.

___________________

Under the moonlit sky, Jinki had to be running for his life again -or so it would seem to anyone watching- but this time he was running from a werewolf.

The merman's speed was no match for the werewolf's and the latter caught up to him in no time eventually. One five-clawed scratch across the running merman's back was enough to make him stumble and fall.

He panted as he tried to prop himself on his elbows.

-"Any last wishes? And don't get me wrong; I'm not going to actually try granting you them. I just want to enjoy seeing you yearn for something you'll never get to have."