chapter six

"Where are we going so early in the morning?"

"To meet a potential ally."

"Another one?" Yeong-Ja asks. "Isn't one just enough? Or is that you don't trust that man from last night."

Kimberly frowns. "Don't get me wrong, I trust Wren and he's definitely an ally--" Though he'll try and deny the fact that he's willingly helping a vampire temporarily. "-- But there's also someone else who I trust just as much as him."

"Really? Who is this person?"

"You'll see once we get there."

A red car pulls up, it's the Uber she scheduled to pick them up. Kimberly smiles and opens the door, ushering Yeong-Ja inside before sitting next to her. The driver is an older man, older than Kimberly and way younger than the Vampire Yeong-Ja. The car is clean and smells nice, it smells of blueberry muffins and coffee. God, now Kimberly is craving those two things.

The car ride is filled with the conversation between Kimberly and the driver, who's name turned out to be Colt, cute! He tells her that he decided to take on this request because he was already out doing stuff for his wife, might as well drive someone around! "She even gave me homemade muffins, would you two like one?"

"Really?" asks Kimberly, eyes lighting up. "I would love one! What about you, Yeong-Ja?"

"Sure."

He hands Kimberly the bag and she takes out two muffins. They're still fresh and a little warm, amazing. The two say thank you and eat their muffins in silence. For a few minutes, the two of them are at peace, neither worry about Winston, there's no need to do so when you're calmly eating a muffin as a sweet old man talks lovingly about his wife. Kimberly does sneak a peak at Yeong-Ja twice just to see if she reacts to the stories. Hearing Colt makes her wonder about Yeong-Ja and Winston. She said that the two of them loved each other at one point, when exactly did the love die and why did Yeong-Ja stay with Winston despite that?

She doesn't ask nor will she ever. The question isn't important to the mission.

Finally, the car pulls in front of an apartment complex and Kimberly thanks Colt for the ride. He smiles and waves as he drives away, she'll make sure to leave him a nice review on the app. She leads Yeong-Ja into the apartment complex and to the elevator where she hits the five button. The ride up is silent, Yeong-Ja staring forward and Kimberly looking upwards. There's a ding, the elevator telling the duo that they've arrived on their floor, the doors slowly sliding open.

Kimberly is the first one out as she heads straight down the hallway before stopping in front of a door. 506, her second home. She pounds on the front door. "Open up! It's us!"

She doesn't let up the pounding until the person on the other side yells at her. "Okay, stop! I'm opening the door, jeez."

Kimberly stops, smiling to herself as the door unlocks and opens. There on the other side is Kristina, arms crossed and an annoyed expression on her face. "It's ten in the morning, Kim, was that really necessary?"

"Of course it was! Is breakfast ready? I'm starving."

"It is, did you get me coffee like I asked?"

"Oh shoot, I totally forgot."

"God, you're such a liar!" Kristina rolls her eyes before the land on Yeong-Ja. Unlike Wren and the other hunters, she doesn't glare at the other. "So... this is her?"

Kimberly steps to the side and nods her head. "Yep. Kristina, this is Yeong-Ja the Vampire Queen. And Yeong-Ja, this is Kristina, my twin sister."

"Ah," says Yeong-Ja, extending a hand in Kristina's direction. "You're the new ally that Hunter Kimberly told me about. You're also a hunter, correct?"

Kristina shakes her hand, corners of her mouth twitching upwards. "Pfft, me a hunter? No way! I'm the black sheep of our family."

"She's a ballerina," explains Kimberly. "Not really an occupation that should label her as the 'black sheep' but... It isn't something our parents wanted for her."

"They hate it. They've always dreamed of their daughters becoming the best hunters in the world. Too bad for them that I decided to become a dancer instead, at least this job is a lot more safer than being a hunter." She pulls her hand away and steps to the side. "Now come inside, I have breakfast waiting for us. Oh, Yeong-Ja, is it?" Yeong-Ja nods. "I hope you're fine with eggs, grits, and bacon. Can you eat any of that or should I bleed into a mug for you?"

"Kris!"

Despite Kimberly's embarrassment, Yeong-Ja smiles as she walks inside. "I can eat your food, don't worry. I just can't taste any of it."

"Oh that's really disappointing because my cooking is amazing. Kim might be a better hunter than I am but I'm a way better cook than she is."

Yeong-Ja laughs, walking beside Kristina who blabs about everything. She talks about the food she made, how Kimberly may seem cool but is actually the biggest fool around, how she's an amazing prima ballerina, and more stuff that Kimberly tunes out. If you give her sister the chance, she'll never stop talking. And she would have saved Yeong-Ja but the vampire only smiles and reacts appropriately to everything being said. As if she actually enjoys the useless chatter. Kimberly only watches from the doorway before she enters and closes the door.

She kicks her shoes off and drops her bag onto the floor, the clatter of weapons could be heard but she ignores it. She's too busy looking at the fourth pair of shoes on the shoe rack and the awfully familiar duffle bag to the side. "Kris," she says, her sister stopping to turn to her. "Who else is here?"

Kristina rolls her eyes, jabbing her thumb in the direction of her bedroom. "Just some uninvited loser who came here five hours ago. He's currently sleeping in my bed."

Kristina then goes back to talking to Yeong-Ja, no longer caring about the "uninvited loser" that's residing in her apartment. Does he do this a lot? Kimberly wonders to herself as she sits down at the table and starts piling her plate with food. The other two women follow along.

The three of them eat and talk together. Yeong-Ja asks Kristina questions about ballet and why did she choose it. Kristina asks Yeong-Ja what it's like to be the Vampire Queen. Kimberly asks for Kristina to the pass the butter... she's ignored, of course. Yeong-Ja hears her and gives it to her, though she never let's up her chatter. Kimberly watches her for a few seconds before focusing on her food.

When the three of them finish eating, Kristina picks up their plates and takes them into the kitchen. "Feel free to look around or relax, Yeong-Ja! I'll be right back." She smiles and then disappears, leaving Yeong-Ja and Kimberly on their own.

Yeong-Ja doesn't waste anytime as she looks around the living room. There are pictures that line the walls and more on a bookshelf that sits to the side. She takes her time to look at each other, Kimberly follows behind. The pictures on the wall are of the shows that Kristina did over the years. They're either of just her or her cast mates, though no matter who's in it, Kimberly can still feel the passion and love for ballet seeping through the frames. She might have to sneak one of the framed pictures in their parents home one day, just so that they'll have something recent of their daughter.

Kimberly wonders how well they'll react to that.

Yeong-Ja moves away from the ballet pictures and instead to the bookcase. The pictures here are older, back when the twins were younger than ten! Oh yikes, bad times.

The vampire studies each picture carefully before stopping at one. The pictures are different and display a younger Kristina. There's a picture of Kristina and Kimberly, both smiling as one holds a crossbow and the other a stake. Then there's another of the two girls eating ice cream and looking awfully annoyed that their picture is being taken. One of them with an older man and woman. Then the last one of them with another girl, the three of them looking no more than five in the picture. Yeong-Ja points to the unknown girl. "Who's that?"

Kimberly peaks behind her, her smile shifts into a frown and she shuffles nervously. "Oh, uh, that's--"

"Oh, that's me." A random hand reaches over and picks up the picture. The pair turn back to see Wren who smiles sadly down at the picture. "Cute picture, right? I think it is, honestly, it's the only picture from my childhood that I genuinely like." He turns back to Kristina. "It also makes me happy that Kristina has this picture in her home. You love me that much, my darling?"

"Absolutely not!" She yelled from the kitchen. "I only have it up because of how cute I was in it."

"Of course, that's the only reason you have it." Wren sits the picture back down, smiling once because of it before he frowns staring down at Yeong-Ja and Kimberly. "Are you two ready to talk?"

Kimberly nods. "Yeah, we need to get started with this. Who knows how much time we have left before Winston finds us."

"He probably already found us." The two nervously stare down at Yeong-Ja, the older woman looking between the two. "... That was a joke."

"Jokes are meant to be funny."

"I found it to be funny, the same with your expressions. You should've seen your faces."

It's like Yeong-Ja is purposely trying to piss off Wren and the fact that it's working. He's always so calm and collective, it comes to Kimberly as a surprise that he's allowing himself to lose his temper. "Hey, let's just... sit down and figure out a plan, yeah?"

"Fine," Wren says, turning and walking over to the couch. He takes a seat as he pulls out his phone. "Yeong-Ja, do you have an idea of how long we have until your husband sends out a search party for you?"

"He most likely has already sent one," she says. "We have two, maybe three days if we're lucky, before they find us."

"That gives us enough time to figure out a plan and get you out of here." Kimberly sits down on the armchair, pulling her legs into her chest. "But you know... in order to make a solid plan, you'll need to tell us everything."

Yeong-Ja doesn't look happy. She's frowning, though she keeps her head held up high. She's like a loyal royal servant to her sire, God, is it that bad? "Yeong-Ja, come on." Kristina steps into the living room, taking the spot next to Wren. Unlike him, her expression is softer and full of concern for a woman she met an hour ago. "You can tell us. I know that we just met but whatever it is, understand that you can trust us to stop it and protect you. Okay?"

Yeong-Ja shuffles in place before sighing loudly, her hands running through her hair. "Really? The three of you think you can stop them and save me? Seriously?"

Kimberly sits up a little straight in her spot. "Yeah man, whatever it is we can take it. Right guys?"

"Sure."

"Of course!"

"Ha." She laughs dryly at their responses. She doesn't believe them, anyone could tell by this. She's silent for a few seconds before she makes direct eye contact with all of them. "You better keep your word even after I tell you everything."

"We'll keep it, don't worry." Kimberly's voice is stern and promising, confident even. Of course she's confident, she's one of the best hunters around. Whatever it is, they can handle it. "Just tell us already."

"Fine." Yeong-Ja finally sits down, though she chooses to sit on the floor than anywhere else. She holds her cheek as she says, "You may think a vampire like my Sire and Winston are already powerful, and they are. But they, He, my Sire wants more of it... He doesn't just want control of all vampires, he wants control of all species around the world. And we don't have long before he truly accomplishes his goal."

Oh.

Oh, well.

Maybe... they can't handle this. Shit.