A Toothless Smile

Chapter 1 

It wasn't often that Kim Coven was asked to check out a specific location for unruly vampires. The last time it happened was some few decades ago when they'd cleaned an entire sewer system of strays.

It didn't bode well that someone else caught wind of unlawful activity in Kim territory before the man – vampire – himself. For starters it was just a bad look on principal, it made it seem as if their leader wasn't paying attention to his own lands.  Secondly, vampires were creatures of habit, none of them like it when someone acted out of turn.

This time it wasn't a sewer which Hoseok was incredibly grateful for. Seokjin sent them to what appeared to be an abandoned building on the bad side Seoul. It was a typical sight but then again, vampires.

Usually Hoseok didn't join these little trips. It wasn't his specialty, as it were. He certainly could handle it, he was there for a reason, but his usual involvement in such cases happened behind the scenes. The few times he'd been sent out had happened when Seokjin had been sending in everybody and that never happened for anything good.

Again, Hoseok was glad this wasn't a sewer system. He could still smell the damn place after decades.

But Namjoon was busy tonight and Yoongi wouldn't be back home until a little later and Seokjin's meeting was taking longer than it should.

That only left Hoseok to join Jimin and Taehyung.

Normally it was Namjoon on the babysitting duty on these expeditions. He had the physical strength for the job, he could defend himself and the two little ones if things ever went south. It never had so far but that didn't mean this coven would let Jimin and Taehyung go out alone on such a mission. You never knew what was lurking in the shadows.

Hoseok wasn't weak. He could handle this just as easily as Namjoon. It just wasn't his job.

"I don't hear anything from here." Taehyung said.

"Me neither." Jimin added and turned to look at Hoseok.

In any case it was good bonding time for them. It had been sometime between all the work since Hoseok had last spent quality time with their fledglings.

It was just past midnight, the moon shining bright high on the dark sky. There was an easy breeze blowing, it was a chilly late summer night.

There weren't any sounds, or at least there weren't any sounds that were important to them, but the wind made it easier for Hoseok to pick up on scents. Vampires had such a specific smell to them. This was the right place.

The silence could be an indication that the strays had perhaps left to hunt or maybe they caught wind of their arrival and jumped ship. Both options were highly possible.

"Keep an eye out." Hoseok said and casually walked up to the broken front door. It wasn't Jimin and Taehyung's first little mission, they'd done this a few times already, but it was still a good learning experience. "Stay close, alright?"

Taehyung and Jimin were practically skipping down the halls, flitting from door to door to check different rooms, excited to be out on a mission. Hoseok watched them with a smile as they tracked down certain scents and pointed out things they noticed to him. It was a good way for them to sharpen their skills. They're both very young, practically toddlers by vampire standards and still learning to adapt to their new undead lives. The fledglings chattered happily down the hall. Their footsteps were perfectly inaudible and pride swelled in Hoseok's chest. His darlings were learning faster and faster, they'd be such a force to reckon with in a few decades.

The building was in horrible condition even by abandoned building standards. The moldy walls were covered in shitty graffiti, some of them collapsed or barely holding on. Everything was either broken or rotting to some degree, the floor creaking under their steps.