Parabellum

It didn't take long for Soyun to regret her decision to take a swig of the bottle of scotch.

"Ack! Puah! Ugh!"

Sputtering and coughing Soyun held the bottle at arm's length as she wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her jacket

"God that tastes horrible!"

"Shame on you for drinking in front of us children Soyun" Su-Yong called out with her finger pointed at the older woman.

Yu-Jin nodding empathically with folded arms "father I think you should have a long and serious discussion with Soyun."

"Ah~" Joseph sighed in exasperation "unfortunately your sister seems to be entering that phase of her life at the moment. As a parent I have failed."

*Thump*

"OW!"

*Thwack*

"YOUCH!"

*Smack*

"…fair enough."

A moment later Soyun stood looming over the three who sported comical goose egg bumps on their head while also sitting on their knees looking for all the world like chastised children. Even Joseph found himself in this position though he looked less chastised and more amused with the situation.

"Are you done messing around?" she questioned testily.

"Can I have my scotch back?" the priest countered.

"Denied" she shot down.

"Does it even do anything for you?"

"I'm not going to drink it!" Soyun snapped and made a face at the thought of willingly consuming the thing a second time "there's no way I'm going to let you have it and if you try I'll pour it down the drain."

That had the priest's eyes widen "now that's just cruel and a waste of perfectly good scotch."

Ignoring the priest for now Soyun turned to the hellions "and as for you two"

"Eep!" went the twins as they sat ramrod straight looking up at their big sister whose eyes seemed to be eerily glowing red.

Then the sinister atmosphere abruptly ended as Soyun dropped to her knees and enveloped both of them in a hug.

"If you knew all along why didn't you say anything?" she spoke lowly.

The two children glanced at each other over Soyun's shoulder before returning the hug.

"It's not that we didn't want to say anything…" Yu-Jin began.

"We just figured you and father have reasons for keeping it a secret…" Su-Yong continued

"And you would tell us when you feel comfortable."

"B-but I'm a vampire."

"So?"

"Aren't you bothered by that?"

Su-Yong answered that question with another "why would we?"

"Yeah you're our sister"

"Plus it's hard to be scared of you after the tampon incident."

That little add-on by Su-Yong caused Soyun to have memory flashes of an incident that is by far the most embarrassing thing to have happened to her in her entire life. It caused her to loosen a bit of the iron clad control on her strength and hug the two children a bit too tightly.

"Agh t-too tight!"

"Why did you have to go and remind her about that?" Yu-Jin complained as he too struggled to escape Soyun's grip.

"Heh…"

That single sound caused the two children to pause in their struggling. It also helped that Soyun's grip loosened enough to give them room to breathe again.

"Sometimes I wish you two would act a bit more immature."

It started as a small thing at first however it soon escalated from chuckles and giggles to a full blown laughter.

"Thi-this is too much" she giggled between breaths.

As Soyun continued her laughter with tears of relief streaking down her face she failed to take into account that the emotional turmoil would prove to be enough to trigger her transformation. Su-Yong and Yu-Jin boggled as their older sister transformed right before their eyes. Once she finished Soyun released them to wipe the tears out of her glistening red eyes and as she looked upon them she smiled giving them a good view of her long and sharp fangs.

The two most pronounced symbols of a vampire that would usually strike a primal kind of fear within humans are reduced to nothing more than interesting features on Soyun as she radiated relief and warmth.

And her next words are spoken with the utmost gratitude "thank you"

At this point Joseph used the distraction to separate himself from the trio. He kept his silence so far wanting to see how things played out and the result left him with mixed feelings. The revelation that the twins knew all along is just as much a surprise to him as it is to Soyun. Of course he is happy and relieved they accept Soyun even when knowing the truth. On the other hand seeing Soyun's reaction, the pure relief in her voice and expression, honestly broke his heart and he felt a bit of self loathing after witnessing it.

Throughout their entire time together Father Joseph made it a point to express upon Soyun the importance of keeping her true nature a secret. To the point where he even said things that in hindsight were uncalled for. He never meant to take it so far however his own fear and paranoia took over in those moments, not necessarily of the authorities or even the Noble Bloods but of another faction that has thankfully stayed out of the current affairs.

Shaking his head he frown 'there's no use thinking about such things, especially them.'

*Clap*

"As much as I hate to break up this moment we have work to do."

"What's going on?" Yu-Jin questioned.

"There are some dangerous people after your sister."

"Is it the police?" Su-Yong chimed.

'If only.'

"No, they're vampires" Soyun answered.

That brought a look of confusion to Yu-Jin's face "huh? Why are vampires after you?"

"It's complicated."

"That doesn't matter" Father Joseph interrupted "right now there are vampires watching us. They are keeping their distance because their leader wants to personally come for Soyun tomorrow."

"That sounds bad" Yu-Jin stated with a nervous tinge.

Soyun finally stood up having dried her tears and put her emotions under control "I can take care of the ones outside."

"No-" he shut down and before she could protest he added "not yet."

Soyun's previous complaint died on her tongue as she realized "you have a plan."

"I do" he spoke before looking at the twins "and now that you two know what's going on I don't have to be discreet about it."

Then he went to the cabinet bookshelf and proceeded to move it aside to reveal something that had the other three open their mouth in astonishment.

"Whoa~"

"Cool~"

Soyun on the other hand has a different reaction which is one of incredulity.

"What. The. Hell!?"

The Next Day…

*Yawn~*

'Why did I have to get stuck with this shit?' thought one Il-Seong from the shadowed corner of a random street adjacent to the target's house.

"Oi, you better not be dozing off over there Il-Seong" spoke a female voice from his earpiece.

"Still awake" he muttered into the small mic near the collar of his suit.

'And bored out of my fucking mind.'

Two nights ago his boss gathered a few of them to go and meet the Pureblood. Now Il-Seong has been working under Ji-Hae for about four years now. He started from the bottom as one of the numerous goons and eventually got promoted to be one of the boss' elite guards. Not that the Noble Blood needed any guards considering he is one of the most powerful vampires in the country. Really the guards are only needed to deal with any idiots wanting to challenge Ji-Hae's authority which there have been a surprising number of. Because of this Il-Seong and the rest of his personal guards weren't pushovers in the slightest.

It is for this reason why the Noble Blood hardly ever needed to personally deal with problems showing up at his doorstep let alone move out to handle business outside of meetings so when Il-Seong was suddenly called to escort the boss to confront another vampire he was surprised. That surprise turned into anticipation as he was told who their apparent target was, the Pureblood.

Of course Il-Seong knew what a Pureblood is, unlike Common Bloods and Noble Bloods who were once human Purebloods are vampires who are actually born as such and did not have a limited lifespan. They are considered true immortals and the most powerful type of vampire likely because they have their entire immortal lives to grow into their powers.

But this particular Pureblood on the other hand is young, merely a twenty year old university student so perhaps that's why the boss seemed so confident. Il-Seong has witnessed his boss' power firsthand on several sparse occasions and he could not fathom any other vampire being a match for him. So Il-Seong was very much looking forward to the confrontation between his boss and the Pureblood except they never did meet the Pureblood because she wasn't home and the boss ended up leaving soon after confirming this but not before leaving them with orders to watch the place.

The boss specifically told them to monitor but not engage the Pureblood and whoever else lived in the house. Not because he particularly cared about them but because he had something in mind for the Pureblood herself and didn't want to make a bad impression. He also didn't think they would be able to beat her, an insult that Il-Seong took in stride. Then he saw the alleged Pureblood for the first time and for the first time questioned his boss' logic.

Hwang Soyun did not give the impression of a vampire who is on the same level as Ji-Hae. As a matter of fact she hardly seemed like a vampire at all. For all intents the woman looks like your typical twenty something year old Korean woman. The fact that she's slumming it in the ghetto with a priest and two orphans only seems to reinforce this notion.

The only reason he pegged her as a vampire is that while on watch that first night she returned home running at an above average speed and he is certain that some point she glanced in his direction, actually locking eyes with him. So she knew she was being watched but he was hardly impressed by this. Il-Seong isn't one for stealth, the freelancers hired for monitoring her got themselves killed presumably by the woman herself and apparently some data was stolen.

That was the whole reason why the boss moved to meet with her in the first place.

Frankly Il-Seong was tired of watching and waiting. He'd rather just go down there and take the Pureblood by force, deliver her gift wrapped to the boss and receive a big reward. Such thoughts pervaded his mind all throughout his shift up until midday when his earpiece came to life.

"We've got movement! It looks like the priest is making a run for it."

"Is the Pureblood with him?"

"No, haven't seen her all day."

"Shit, block off the Priest."

Orders were relayed and in less than a minute Il-Seong flanked by two others stood before the fleeing priest at a side street devoid of people.

"Where do you think you're going dressed up like that?" Il-Seong questioned.

Despite the question spoken in a rhetorical fashion the vampire is actually mildly curious about the state of the human's dress. The foreign priest is no longer dressed as such instead now wearing black combat boots, cargo pants, gloves, a trench coat and black beanie on top of his head. He is also carrying a rather large and seemingly heavyset duffel bag under his arm which Il-Seong gathered has his belongings inside.

This made him bare his fangs threateningly "you running away?"

At this the man stiffened in alarm and Il-Seong found it amusing he thought he would be able to get away, a sentiment shared by the rest of his peers.

"Where's the Pureblood?" asked Jung-Ahn to his left.

"…" the priest kept quiet as he regarded them however Il-Seong saw his eyes dart to the side in the direction of the house.

That's when Il-Seong realized "he's stalling!" and moved right then towards the house, hopping the walls and using the rooftops to cut corners and reach faster.

Behind he heard the priest yell out "no, please spare them!"

"We're not supposed to engage them!"

Il-Seong ignored him 'fuck that!'

The boss is a man who cared more about results than following orders 'he'd be more pissed if we end up losing the Pureblood!'

Luckily he wasn't the only one to figure this out and as he made it to the street another vampire joined him from the rooftops.

"I'll check the church" the vampire yelled out and the two broke off.

Il-Seong gave a fanged grin of anticipation as he kicked down the door and yelled out "sorry for the intrusion!"

He quickly ran through the living room before breaking the door to the bedroom off its hinges and seeing three occupied futons.

'Looks like he wasn't stalling after all' Il-Seong shrugged 'oh well.'

Might as well take the Pureblood now and-

*BOOM*

The distant sound of an explosion shook him out of his thoughts and rocked the building causing him to whirl around.

"What the hell was that!?"

*Beep-beep-beep*

Suddenly the sounds of rhythmic beeping reached his ears from the futons and il-Seong quickly rushed over ripped the sheets off the very still bodies revealing not a body but a giant gas tank with a device strapped to it. The beeping he heard came from said device which has a digital timer on a numbered countdown.

5…4…3…

Cursing Il-Seong dashed out of the room at top speed.

…2…1

*Be-BEEEP*

*BOOM*

Meanwhile outside several vampires arrived as the second explosion went off. The force and heat caused them to momentarily cover their faces and stagger back. A moment later Il-Seong's flaming body tumbled out of the inferno with the vampire screaming.

The horrific scene caused one of the vampires to reluctantly ask "what is this!?"

Il-Seong knew he was about to die, his healing is what is keeping him alive but he could feel that life slipping away so with his dying breath he gasped out.

"T-T-TRAP!"

"What?"

Before he could reply Il-Seong crumbled into salt and ash.

Meanwhile…

"What the hell is going on over there!" shouted Kyu-Bok who is the leader of this team.

"THE PRIEST LAID A TRAP!"

"Il-Seong and Ujin are dead!"

As the message was screamed into their earpiece one of the relatively new additions to their group snarled and ran at the priest "you fucker!"

"No wait, boss said not to kill him!" Kyu-Bok shouted but it was too late.

The vampire launched his fist at the priest who held up the duffle bag. A moment later there was a loud scream and blood flew but not from the priest.

"Argh!" the vampire stumbled back clutching the bloody stump where his hand used to be.

Kyu-Bok's eyes widened in shock as he glanced at the priest now holding a blood stained short sword in one hand and in the other he held a silver Desert Eagle handgun which he pressed directly at the side of the vampire's head.

"W-wai-" the vampire whimpered before.

*Bang*

Kyu-Bok winced at sound that assaulted his enhanced hearing 'that's a gun?'

In all honesty it sounded more like a canon went off and in the brief instant he saw his comrades head explode into gore before it and the rest of his body turned to dust.

"Aaargh!"

Kyu-Bok whirled around at the sound of screaming to see another of his subordinates clutching his arm. A chunk of his shoulder was missing and his arm was barely hanging on by a bit of flesh and fabric. The bullet had gone through the first vampire's head and struck the second one in the shoulder. Luckily thanks to his healing factor the vampire in question wouldn't lose his arm and in fact it even began to heal a bit…

"Hmph, still a bit rusty."

*Bang*

This time another shot rang out and the vampire's chest just a bit off from his shoulder exploded and so did the vampire as he turned into dust. Kyu-Bok turned back to the priest, wary and on guard to find the man rolling his shoulder. The priest reached up to his beanie and pulled it down revealing it to be a black ski mask covering everything but the eyes which regard Kyu-Bok with cold detachment that sent a chill down the vampire's spine.

'For a human to cause such a reaction to me a vampire…'

Before he could think any more on this the priest held up something in his hand and a faint click was heard. A moment later several more distant explosions were heard and Jung-Ahn put a hand to her earpiece before turning to him.

"Our cars just exploded!"

That tears it "you…who are you?" Kyu-Bok demanded with barred fangs.

The priest did not answer his question.

He did not say a word.

He only raised his weapon and fired.

*Bang*

~To Be Continued~