chapter five

"Are you out of your mind?"

"No, not particularly--"

"Well you must be if you decided to bring her with you!"

Wren gestures angrily at Yeong-Ja who sits comfortably on Kimberly's hotel bed. Wren had dropped off the rest of the team at their respective hotels, all of who stared Yeong-Ja down until they were far from her. Only Wren is left and honestly... Kimberly's wishing that he had left with the others.

"You had a job to do, Kimberly, you were to murder the Vampire Queen. Simple and easy as that!"

If it was simple and easy as that then Yeong-Ja would be dead. But here she sits, as if the room belongs to her. "I'm still going to kill her. Just... not right now."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because she wants my help," Yeong-Ja says, Wren whipping his head around to glare at her. "She wants to know about my husband, the Vampire King. He's the one your association should be worried about, not me." She tilts her head to the side. "That man is the true monster, I'm simply his puppet."

"Was his puppet," corrects Kimberly.

"Ah, yes. I was his puppet until Hunter Kimberly decided to save me."

Kimberly smiles gently at the title while Wren just looks back and forth between the two women. "What do you mean husband? There's no information of you being married."

"Of course not, he made sure that no one knew of him, especially your association," Yeong-Ja says. "My husband is a very... shy man. Shy, pathetic, powerful, and selfish. He does his work in the shadows while forcing me to be out in the open about my own things." She crosses her arms as she continues. "It's frustrating, I would love to be secretive just like him but even that's impossible for the queen of all vampires."

Wren is staring at her in confusion, none of this clicking for him. The same could be said about Kimberly, she'll never understand anything if Yeong-Ja keeps acting all mysterious. "Come on, Yeong-Ja," she says. "Just tell us everything you know. Please before this guy shoots you without a second thought."

She's not even joking, Kimberly knows Wren well enough to know that he's a bit trigger happy when it comes to vampires, especially ones who don't cooperate with him. Yeong-Ja probably figures this out too as she sighs deeply. "Okay, fine, whatever. Just sit down and don't shoot. This bed is too nice and fluffy to get stained in blood."

Kimberly don't sit down, there's no way they can when new information is about to be given to them. "Where should I start?"

"His name would be nice," says Wren.

"Ah, of course." Yeong-Ja nods her head. "My husband's name is Winton Miltone, which in turns makes my name Yeong-Ja Miltone-- have been for a very long time. I used to love my name but now... I can't bring myself to even associate with the Miltones." Kimberly can somewhat picture why, after hearing Winton while hiding in the bathroom... she would hate being associated with him too. "I met Winton when we were both teenagers, two years after meeting, we married each other."

"Was it an arranged marriage?"

"Excuse me?"

"Was your marriage between you two an arranged one?" Kimberly asked again. "I mean, you probably married each other hella young. It would make sense if your parents forced the two of you to marry."

Yeong-Ja just gives her a look. "Now Hunter Kimberly, I understand that my relationship with my husband is not the best these days but when we first met, we were in love and our marriage was of our own decision." Well, she shuts Kimberly up with that, putting the younger woman in her place. "Even after being turned, we still loved and trusted each other. We were loyal. Well, until..."

"Until what?" Asked an impatient Wren.

"Until my husband became loyal to another-- and no, it was not another woman, Winton isn't the type to cheat." She smiles gently before she drops it. "He became loyal to our maker, the one who turned us."

"Isn't that the case for most vampires? Like, you guys being loyal to whoever sired you."

"Not at all," Yeong-Ja says. "Loyalty isn't something that comes automatically to us, it takes time to build. If a vampire is loyal to their Sire then it's because their Sire earned that loyalty. For our shared Sire... he earned it."

"From both of you?"

She's silent, Yeong-Ja's eyes on her lap. "He did but not anymore. But I cannot say the same for Winton. Even now he's still loyal to our Sire.

"Our Sire doesn't do anything himself, he has other people do it for him. Before it was both Winton and me who completed whatever tasked that needed to be done-- simple tasks, nothing drastic. But as the years went on... the tasks began to change and so did Winton. He was no longer on my side, he was becoming more and more like our Sire and because of that change... I became both of their puppet."

It doesn't make sense to Kimberly. "You willingly became their puppet?" She asks. "Why? Why not reject their commands, do whatever you want especially because--"

"Hunter Kimberly," Yeong-Ja says, interrupting her. "I would appreciate it if you stopped nitpicking my life when I'm willingly giving you information about my husband."

Kimberly closes her mouth, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Yeong-Ja is right, Kimberly shouldn't be nitpicking like that. Wren looks between the two of them before opening his mouth, "Alright, thanks, I guess. Not like you gave us much about your husband."

"I gave you enough," she says. "For tonight. It's dark and I would like to sleep, thank you very much."

"Where are you sleeping?"

"Here with Hunter Kimberly of course."

Wren makes a face. "No way! You may be helping us but that doesn't mean I trust you, much less trust you to stay with Kimberly." He takes a few steps forward until he's in front of Yeong-Ja, towering over her. Yeong-Ja barely reacts, she just stares up at him, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "You're still a Vampire, the Vampire Queen specifically, you'll just suck her dry once I leave."

She smiles up at him, legs crossed and arms behind her as she leans back a bit. "You could always join us and I'll suck you both dry as well. How does that sound?"

Wren laughs dryly. "Personally I think driving a stake through your chest while you sleep sounds way better."

"Try it, Hunter."

"Wait, whoa, whoa!" Kimberly steps in between the two, pushing Wren back to where he was standing seconds ago. "Chill, I'm not in the mood to see either of you fighting." She turns to Wren. "If it'll make you feel better, you can stay here tonight. Just sleep in the chair over there with a pillow and a blanket. Yeong-Ja can have the bed--"

"Where are you sleeping?"

Kimberly shrugs. "I can take the floor."

"Uh, no you're not!"

"That doesn't sound like a good idea, Hunter Kimberly."

They both say it at the same time, Kimberly's head whipping back and forth between the two. It brings a little smile to her face. "You can have the bed, Hunter Kimberly," says Yeong-Ja. "This is your room after all."

"Then where will you sleep?"

"I'll sit on the floor. I'm usually awake during this time anyways so no need to worry."

Kimberly does worry just a bit but says nothing else. "Okay, well, I guess that settles it. Now, if you both will excuse me, I'm going to shower." She steps away from them, heading to her suitcase to get a change of clothes before pausing. "And try not to kill each other while I'm showering, okay? Thanks."

She takes a thirty minute shower before coming out, the room completely silent as Wren sleeps peacefully in the chair and Yeong-Ja stares outside the large window. Kimberly says nothing to the older woman, only watches her for a few seconds before she goes to sleep as well. Within minutes, she's in dreamland where she dreams of everything and anything random, none of it holding any importance.

After a few hours, Kimberly wakes up again, though she's in a haze. She looks over and Wren is still sleeping, though he has kicked his blanket from over him-- oh wow. Is he holding a stake? Of course, he still doesn't trust Yeong-Ja.

Yeong-Ja.

The older woman hasn't moved from her spot, she's still sitting on the floor, staring out the window. Kimberly wonders what she's looking at, if there's anything that has caught her eye or maybe she's lost in thought. She's too groggy to ask the vampire as she drifts back to sleep minutes after. She wakes up again, this time at nine in the morning. The curtains are closed shut, not even a sliver of light is able to peak through. She sits up, rubbing at her eyes as she tries to look at the other two.

Wren is no longer sleeping, he's gone. His phone and bag are no longer in the room, he most likely woke up at the crack of dawn. Instead, it's Yeong-Ja who sleeps in the chair, blanket pulled up to her chin as she snores lightly. She looks so peaceful, completely different from how she looked last night.

Kimberly sits there for a few minutes, spending time looking at the other woman and at her phone. Finally, she stands up to get ready for the day. The sooner she gets ready, the sooner they can start this plan to destroy the Vampire King.