Chapter Text
Jungkook was pissed.
He’d woken up chained to a wall- seriously, how stereotypical is that? The first thing he noticed upon regaining consciousness (after the chains- they were too obnoxious to ignore) was that the clothes on his body were not his. Too soft, too baggy. Who had dressed him? Fuck if Jungkook knew; he’d been out cold for god knows how long. Last thing he remembered was…was…nothing. Everything felt fuzzy, too out of reach.
It was almost too dark to see anything, but Jungkook had better vision in the dark than most people. He was in a small cell, maybe eight by eight feet. Cold concrete lay underneath him, bars for walls all around him. How the fuck did he get to a place like this? The room seemed to be set up with four cells on each wall- eight in total, and his was on the far end. Jungkook could see huddled bodies in several of them. “Hey…hello?” he called out.
The bodies didn’t move, and a frustrated sound fell from his mouth. He pulled violently against the chains locked around his wrists. No give- they were sturdy. Jungkook stood up and pulled harder, and harder- fucking nothing. Nothing except swollen wrists. He grunted angrily and kicked with his bare feet at the place where the chains hooked into the wall instead.
“You’re not going to achieve anything kicking the wall. You’ll just tire yourself out.” A voice came softly from the cell to the right of his.
Jungkook’s head whipped around. “Hello? Who are you? Where- where are we and how the fuck did I get here?” Questions spilled from his mouth like a fountain and he knelt down, scooting as close to the cell next door as the chains allowed.
“My name is Jimin. You?” The huddled figure struggled to sit up, propping himself against the wall.
“I’m Jungkook. Where are we? What’s going on?” Jungkook tried to move closer, but only found himself jerked back by his shackles.
“Shhh, you need to be quieter,” the boy called Jimin urged nervously. “They’ll hear you. Stop moving your chains and speak quietly.”
Jungkook hadn’t realized his voice was raised. He cleared his throat carefully, and the next time he spoke it was low. “Who’ll hear? Who brought me here?”
Jimin sounded bone tired as he answered, “You’re in a vampire nest. You were taken to be a nestling.”
Vampires? Jungkook knew that they existed, he’d learned about them in passing in his classes at school. But they were rare, a small portion of the population. Generally kept to themselves, living in rural areas so they could feed on animal blood. And nestlings…he’d heard the term, but his head was pounding and he couldn’t quite remember what it meant. He couldn’t think clearly about anything, really.
“I can’t remember…what are nestlings?”
“Food. You’re here to feed the nest. Blood is a precious commodity around here,” Jimin muttered.
“But vampires feed on animals, don’t they? Why would they want to feed from me? Why…why- I don’t understand,” Jungkook said.
“Not all of them. These ones certainly don’t. Too close to the city to have access, I think. They keep us here, in the blood bank- that’s what they call this building. They come to drain us every couple days, depending on how many of us in here are at a time. They won’t kill you- they take just enough so you’ll survive but they get their fill. There’s not many of them, or else they couldn’t survive on so little blood. Anyway, that’s what they call us, nestlings. Seems too nice of a word if you ask me.” Jimin’s voice was bitter. “They probably took you from the city, right? No friends or family nearby? That’s how we all were. And now we stay here, as food, until we fuck up or they get tired of us. Then we’re replaced.”
Jimin’s words were eerily correct. Jungkook had just moved to Busan a month ago for school, leaving his family behind. He’d been so busy with his new job and his schooling he hadn’t made any close friends yet. No one would know where he was- his boss would just assume he bailed on her like so many students did; she wouldn’t care enough to look into it any further than that. His family…fuck, he wished he could speak with them.
A sliver of hope flashed through Jungkook’s mind as he rapidly patted down his pockets, hoping for his phone…nothing. Of course, it made sense they would have taken his phone away as well. He’d been stripped of his belongings, his clothes, and his dignity in one fell swoop. Even worse, Jungkook had no fucking idea how these bloodsuckers even got him here. His spotty memories meant he didn’t even know if there were any witnesses to the kidnapping- no idea if he had any hope of being rescued.
“How long have you been here? How do we get out? I need to get out of here,” Jungkook asked as he stood up, examining the wall behind him for any weak spots.
“You don’t. You don’t escape, ever. If you try to escape, they kill you and they replace you. I’ve been here for six months and I’m pretty sure I’ll die here eventually too.” Jimin’s voice was disconcertingly calm and it made Jungkook feel sick. He pushed down the feeling, and found anger taking its place.
“This is..this is fucking sick. This is bullshit. I don’t want to be here; they can’t keep me here against my will. I’ll fight them if I have to, I’m going to get out of here,” he spit. He couldn’t keep still, his body pulling and pulling on the chains, loud as they clanked on the concrete. Jungkook could vaguely tell that he was panicking, but his mind felt a million miles away and his body acted on its own. His hands were shaking, he could tell that much, but he clenched them into fists instead.
“Stop it! Stop, you’re being too loud, they’ll hear you!” Jimin’s otherwise tired voice seemed upset, urgent. “I know you’re scared, but you need to take a deep breath and calm down. Nothing good ever comes from them paying attention to us.”
“Who fucking cares! The fuckers can come whenever they’d like, I’ll take them down as soon as they do!” Jungkook’s breathing was coming faster and faster. His body was a tight coil, ready to release at any moment. He wanted to fight something, anything, but the only thing there was those stupid fucking chains, so he pulled and pulled and pulled until blood dripped from his swollen wrists.
“Fuck fuck fuck, this is…no, you need to stop. You’re bleeding, they’ll smell it. Stop!” But Jungkook couldn’t. He needed to get the fuck out, away from this claustrophobic hellhole.
A door slowly creaked open at the end of the room, and Jungkook saw Jimin immediately drop like a sack of potatoes, unmoving on the floor. Jimin’s chest was moving rapidly, but the boy was obviously pretending to be asleep. A dark figure gracefully stepped through the doorway, locking it behind him. Jungkook stood, panting heavily, and waited for the man to approach.
Jungkook squinted into the dark. The figure was a man, looked to be maybe in his late twenties or early thirties- though if he was a vampire who knew how old he actually was. He had a fairly attractive face, maybe a little bit plain. Strong jaw, and a smirk that seemed to be cemented in place as a facial feature. Jungkook didn’t recognize him. “Hey, let me out of here! You can’t keep me in this place, asshole!” Jungkook called. He tried to keep the uncertainty and fear out of his voice, letting anger take their place instead.
The man didn’t answer right away, but kept moving closer. As he approached, the air seemed to grow thick and overwhelming with something Jungkook couldn’t quite describe- electricity buzzing in the cell around him, a powerful aura that screamed “danger”. In a choice between fight or flight, Jungkook had always been one to fight. However, now, his body seemed to be taking the previously unknown third option- freeze.
His body was stock still as the newcomer finally stopped in front of his cell. After watching Jungkook for a moment, he pulled out the same ring of keys he’d used for the front door and unlocked the cell. Jungkook’s heart leapt, though he still had no plan to get out of the chains and through that open door. He willed himself to move, to do something- but he felt frozen in place.
The man, sickening smirk glued to his face, strode up to Jungkook and placed a hand gently on his cheek. Too intimate, too close, too much, Jungkook’s mind screamed, as the air around him was getting more and more suffocating. A shaky breath escaped his lips and the man smiled. It could have been a charming smile, if they’d met in a bar somewhere, or in class, or in any other situation. This meet cute wasn’t exactly ideal though, and the amusement quirking his lips just made Jungkook feel…small.
“Jeon Jungkook, yes? Beautiful name for a beautiful boy. I’m glad to see you’re awake. I’ll have to thank Minsoo for finding you. We were running out of nestlings, and I would have taken most anyone- but I’m glad it’s you we get to welcome as our guest. It’s very nice to meet you. My name is Lee Jaesung- for now, at least.” His voice was deep and his words flowed together more elegantly than Jungkook had expected. Jaesung’s thumb stroked down Jungkook’s face and he couldn’t help but shiver as cold fear dripped down his spine.
Jungkook tried to speak, to yell, anything, but all that came out was a whimper. Jaesung chuckled softly. “It’s alright Darling, I’ve been told that I’m quite intimidating. On purpose of course- can’t have the food getting up and walking away.” Jaesung removed his hand from Jungkook’s face and instead took a gentle hold of his manacled wrists. “I do apologize for this. While I wish we could let you roam free, unfortunately past experiences have taught us that isn’t the wisest course of action. We’ve found that nestlings should be carefully monitored, controlled. Otherwise we risk losing our only source of life. Hear that, Jungkook? You’ll be keeping me and my nest alive. What an honor that is. We greatly thank you for your assistance.”
Jaesung was too close, too much, and Jungkook couldn’t breathe. He wanted to pull his hands out of Jaesung’s grasp, to hit him, try to grab the keys, anything- but his body wouldn’t let him. Or maybe not his body, but the aura the vampire seemed to be purposefully shrouding him in. All he could do was keep eye contact, his glare never letting up. Jungkook would not be giving his captor the satisfaction of seeing him look down, seeing him look frightened. He was, of course- but hell if he’d give the bloodsucker the satisfaction of knowing that.
Jaesung sighed wistfully. “You do smell wonderful, and I wish I could feed from you right now. Regrettably, I already had my drink this morning- we’ll have to wait until tomorrow for our first meal together. But…” Eyes growing a little darker, he lowered his mouth to Jungkook’s wrists, still bleeding. Jungkook could only watch in disgust as he licked a long stripe across his skin, lapping up the blood that had gathered there. “I’ll never turn down a midnight snack.”
With that, Jaesung stepped back, exiting the cell. After it had once again been locked up, Jungkook made eye contact once more. “Wonderful to make your acquaintance, Darling. I’m looking forward to our next meeting,” Jaesung said, flashing that smile again, and finally walked away.
It wasn’t until the vampire had locked the front door behind him that Jungkook’s muscles unfroze. He collapsed to the ground, breath coming much too fast to be normal. He was going to die here. He was going to live a miserable existence, being drained of blood to keep others alive, and the last thing he’d see before death would be that asshole’s smug face. He couldn’t fucking breathe, he couldn’t- he-
Jimin pushed himself back up to a sitting position, scooting close to Jungkook’s cell. Jungkook vaguely noted that Jimin wasn’t chained up like he was as he pulled himself up to the bars separating their cells. “Hey- deep breaths. I know, it’s scary the first time they use their thrall. It’s supposed to be scary, they like to make us feel inferior. You get a little more used to it over time, I promise. Please, take a deep breath. In and out.”
Jungkook did his best to listen. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. His breathing slowed, and Jimin kept talking. “You’ll be okay, I promise. I’ve been here for like forever, I’m still okay. I’ll be here to talk to, and besides, the feedings aren’t so bad once you get used to them. You’re just…tired. Just tired, a lot. I sleep most of the time, but you can always try to wake me up if you’re freaked out. Okay?”
There was silence for a moment before Jungkook, curled up against the wall, said softly, “I want to go home.”
Jimin paused. “I know. I do too.”
Tears started to roll down Jungkook’s face, but luckily Jimin pretended not to notice them. He kept talking in his warm honey voice about anything and everything. His voice was…nice. Calming. He let Jimin ramble as he worked to get himself back under control.
Jungkook wasn’t really listening to most of what Jimin was saying, but after about fifteen minutes he heard him say softly, “Hey, Kookie? I’m gonna call you that, if it’s okay. Kookie, I know this is god awful and you’d rather be anywhere but here, but we’ll get through it together, alright? You’re going to be okay.”
Jungkook wasn’t sure he believed him, but he also supposed there was no other choice.