Ruby Necklace // minsung

chapter [20]

After refusing to listen to Hyunjin about having to talk, Chan ran all the way up to his room in the highest floor in uncoordinated steps, very different from his usual calm.
From the very first moment he had looked into this werewolves eyes, feelings of the past had hit him that he had desperately suppressed for decades. There was simply no explanation for his appearance but at the same time Chan had no doubt about that person's identity. These green eyes... they were exactly the same as hers.

"No, I killed all of them... every last member of that disgraceful family!" he smashed the door close and kicked his bed.

"Shit" Chan brought his hands to his head pulling on his hair to controll his desire to rip everything apart. His head hurt for a few days now... it was torturing him. The mere presence of that wolf was forcing all these memories back.

In exhaust he let himself fall down his chair and stared at his hands. For the blink of eye they turned bloody and he heard screams echoing through the inside of his head.

The war.

Annabelle's face smiling at him.

The blood of her family dripping from his hands.

Her dead body found inside a small tower, rotting and eaten away by insects.

Chan felt the emptiness of his heart during the endless years that he aimlessly walked around, every emotion lost in his hatred.

He wasn't sure how long exactly he had wandered around back then until that one day when Chan met Minho. The younger was just a little kid and bumped into him while running through the mountains. His smile was the first one that the vampire saw after a very long time so he clearly remembered the warm prickly feeling in his chest. As Minho's new friend he had decided to take him with him because of the conservative and cruel family that the younger had fled from. Hyunjin joined them a few years later when Chan found him hiking through the mountains after his grandpa had told him to find his own adventure and finally make some friends. He liked him from the very beginning.

After some of his old friends had found out that he took two young vampire's in, one of them send Seungmin to Chan after he was abandoned by his family for his unique ability of reading minds. No one but the oldest knew about that to protect him.

And lastly he found Felix which was by far the most dangerous encounter at that time. He had volunteered helping when a village close to their mansion had stood in flames. With the hell of his ability Chan had found the source of the raging flames in a small house, by that time it was more of a ruin though. There had been a little child, sitting on the ashes of his family and crying his soul out. When he had seen Chan coming he was already collapsing of exhaustion so the flames died down soon after.

Like that Felix became the 5th member of their new family although he had forgotten about his fire magic after that traumatizing experience. Chan never told him what actually happend nor that he was their killer.
He didn't want any of then to live with the burden of pain and regret like he did.

Think back to those times made the vampire smile for a moment.
Right... with their help he had been able to forget about all of what happened for a time.

But this werewolf had brought it back and Chan wasn't sure if he could handle it. At first he wanted to make him leave, then he considered killing him to rid himself of any regrets but that would make him go back to the times when he hated himself the most.
No... he had to endure it and wait until they'd get Seungmin back.

Leaning back in exhaust the form of the ruby key under his shirt became visible so he took it out slowly.
For many years Chan had searched for the other piece since it hadn't been on the corpse of Annabelle when he found her but to see it in an ancestor of hers made it feel wrong to take the necklace from Jisung. Of course it had belonged to her and Chan but Annabelle was dead and he didn't have any feelings left for her apart the few happy memories they made. However, that necklace was still special to him... and he didn't like to see it on someone else.

Suddenly, Chan was pulled away from his thoughts when a white dove fluttered down to land on the frame of his opened window. Curiously, it tilted its head to the left and to the right with his eyes sparkling.
There was as a small rolled up paper tied to its foot with the sign of white rose.

"What an unexpected surprise..." Chan brought out with furrowed eye brows. First the ancestor of Annabelle and then the circle of the white rose... it seemed like his break from reality came to its end.
As far as Chan remeberd the circle of the white rose hadn't contacted him in about 600 years so in peaceful times like these he wondered what could be so important that they send a dove.
These birds were only sent for invitations concerning a get together with the whole circle which lastly happened 1000 years ago so it wasn't to be taken lightly...

Carefully, he opened the letter and gave the dove a pat on the head before it flew away into the blue sky.

The words made his eyes go darker by every second.
Why now...? Chan was sure it had ended. This couldn't be reality.
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Today a woman got shot to death in a shop that I walked by about 10 minutes before it happened. It's right around the corner of where I work and also where I live... things like these never happen here bc it's a small village (only 14 k inhabitants) and I was honestly scared. I respect people who live in rough neighborhoods in other countries that might have to endure this on a daily basis :(