Bloodline ✦ Nomin

55

Renjun gasps deeply as he jolts forward into an upright sitting position. He places his hands flat on the cold wooden floorboards on either side of him and looks around to get a gasp of his surroundings. He appears to be in the living room of a house he doesn't recognize in the slightest. He uses a nearby loveseat to help pull himself onto his feet despite feeling so much stronger than before. He wanders out into the hallway, finding a narrow staircase leading up to a second story. Loud static causes Renjun to practically leap into the air like a terrified kitten. His head snaps to the left towards a radio sitting on a shelf. It sounds as if it suddenly tunes into a station on its own, but what comes through isn't a normal broadcast.

"A couple was found brutally murdered in their home Friday morning. Police say the man had his heart ripped out of his chest while the woman sustained numerous stab wounds to her face and chest, requiring dental records to identify the body," a woman announces through the speakers, "This is one of twenty ongoing investigations police believe are linked to a local serial killer recently identified as Lee Jeno."

Static makes the woman hard to hear for a moment before fully tuning back in again.

"Consider him armed and dangerous. Authorities have authorized the use of lethal force if spotted. He must be put down," she says flatly before the radio goes static once more.

Renjun is taken aback by what he hears. While the entire report was dipping into the uncanny valley, the final words were a jarring left turn he wasn't expecting. The broadcast wasn't real, that much was obvious, but he couldn't figure out why he heard it at all or why it devolved into suggesting Jeno be murdered by the listeners.

The radio abruptly shuts off on its own, and Renjun takes it as a signal to quickly leave behind the cursed object before it turns on again and says something even more disturbing.

Renjun takes careful yet hasty steps up the staircase, reaching a corridor at the top with closed doors on both sides. One on the right which resides the furthest away from him creaks open slowly. Renjun approaches it with a lack of eagerness and a gut which twists and turns with anxiousness. He pushes the door open and enters inside.

A bedroom illuminated exclusively by moonlight briefly eases Renjun's mind at the sight of it. Just a plain room with a bed made up of silk sheets and a desk with a pc beside it. It was a nice room if Renjun was honest. Still, he refused to let his guard down. He cautiously enters inside, but before he can take more than ten steps past the threshold, he feels a hand grab his wrist and pull him backwards. He screeches in horror as he's pushed back into the door, slamming it shut in the process. A dark figure stands before him and kisses him hard. Though his first instinct is to shove the individual off of him, an odd flutter in his chest and the way his breath is taken away causes him to oddly melt into it. They snap their fingers, causing several candles around the room to light and reveal the last person he expected to be with him in that moment:

Jeno.

He grins at him with a hungry look in his eye that further makes Renjun's brain malfunction.

"Looks like I was right," he hums cockily.

"Right? Right about wh-" Renjun asks, but before he can do so much as complete his thought, the ghostly sound of Jaemin's voice carries through the air like the whispers of the wind.

"I...I can't believe it...You're...you're really here..."

"I don't know what kind of connection we have that had us meeting in our dreams, but I don't care," Jeno remarks as he slowly raises his and Renjun's hands. He interlaces their fingers together as their palms gently press against one another's. "We're together, and that's what matters."

"What the fuck is going on?" Renjun swallows hard, "J-Jeno snap out of it. This isn't real."

"Stop thinking so much," the man frowns deeply, "This isn't about him or Taeyong or what will happen when we leave. This is about us. Right here, right now. We haven't been together like this in so long...Let's just enjoy this moment."

"But-" Jaemin's voice echoes quietly in Renjun's ears

"Shhh," Jeno hushes him before leaning in and brushing his nose gently against Renjun's, "We'll worry about it later. Let me take care of you tonight, baby."

Jeno softly presses his lips into Renjun's as he pushes their hands up to the door on either side of Renjun's head.

In a moment of sheer panic, Renjun jolts forward, feeling his entire body be released from Jeno's grip and unexpectedly trips through him. Renjun spins on his heel to see the final seconds of a ghostly Jeno kissing Jaemin before both men vanish like smoke in the air.

Stunned, Renjun stumbles towards the bed and lies down on it for a moment to gather his scrambled thoughts. He shuts his eyes for only a moment to take a deep breath, but his attempt at regaining some semblance of peace is interrupted by the feeling of the bed dipping down on either side of his legs. His eyes shoot open and he lifts his head slightly to see what it was that was disturbing him, but this proves to be a terrible idea. Jaemin slowly crawls on the bed with pitch black eyes and a smile that chills Renjun to the core.

"J-Jaem?" he stammers.

"My love," he speaks in a low growl as his slender fingers with long nails as sharp as knives trail up Renjun's tiny waist, resting on his chest. He sits on Renjun's lap and continues to grin wickedly. "Give me what I want."

"Wh-what happened to you?" Renjun asks timidly.

"I'm what you made me. Isn't this what you wanted?" Jaemin tilts his head slightly as he waits for an answer.

"N-no! I-I didn't!" Renjun practically exclaims in horror.

Jaemin's expression twists into that of disgust before he hears his sharp teeth in anger.

"How dare you! You did this to me! Now you don't want me?" Jaemin inhumanly screeches like a hellish banshee. Renjun shuts his eyes, trying to tell himself that none of this was real. "Look at me! Look at the soul you willingly defiled!"

"You're not real!" Renjun screams.

"Look at me, Jeno! You pathetic fuck! Look at me!"

"I'm not Jeno!" Renjun yells, causing the demon to cease. With immense dread, Renjun opens his eyes, finding Jaemin no longer in the room with him. He leaps out of the bed and races for the door. Without hesitation, he yanks it open and bolts out without a second glance. Not that he could do so anyway. The door slams shut on its own the moment he exits the room, leaving him out in the empty corridor once again.