Archive of Our Own ^beta

A body crumples to the ground, weak and wasted, but not dead.

No, never a mercy like that.

It's limped from place to place in search of something, but hasn't found it yet.

But then…

A spark is set aflame in the corner of its mind, small and frail, yearning for nurture. It's fuel for the body, grants it the energy to crawl slowly towards the direction it feels the pull.

Towards the direction its soul will be fed.

#          #          #

Mira weaves through green, a shadow slipping through void as her senses guide her towards a beating heart. A grin splits her face, fangs gleaming in the moonlight, as the thrill of the chase floods through her cold body.

It's never been quite like this before, her prey somehow faster than her, making her work for it. She could opt for a slower one, senses the erratic thrum of a rabbit's heart, but it's intoxicating zipping through the forest with only the barest glimpse of her prey as it outruns her.

She's been at this long enough that she can taste the victory now, so on the next stomp, she digs her foot into the ground and launches herself at a nearby tree. She catches a branch in her clawed hands and swings onto it before thrusting herself into the air again.

Her body refashions itself into a bat, allowing her to soar higher into the air before swooping down in a blur of pink hair and pale skin to crash into the wolf.

It howls and roars and snarls, struggling more than a normal wolf would and nearly throwing her with a strength she doesn't expect, but Mira's already steadying its neck and sinking her fangs into it before it can do anything.

The blood pulses into her mouth as she drinks greedily, her senses overloaded to the point where she nearly bites and takes out a chunk of the wolf, fur and all.

But, it's as she's draining the wolf, as she feels it shift and its mewl draw low and slow, as she feels something electric run through her like the blood is infused with euphoria itself, that she realizes something's not right.

#          #          #

Zoey's whine stretches and stretches and stretches until it shatters into a broken scream. She uses what little energy she has left to scramble away from what's stabbed her in the neck, slapping a hand over the puncture wounds as she turns to face her attacker.

She's disoriented and drained, has to try and stabilize herself with one limp hand on the ground so she can focus her eyes on the tall figure in front of her.

"What the fuck?" It doesn't come from her, but from the pale person looming over, their gleaming eyes wide with shock and locked on her.

"I should be saying that." Zoey croaks out, drawing her hand back to look at the blood coating it.

"You bit me."

"You were a wolf." Comes the response, almost low enough to be a growl, and Zoey sees them blur into pink as she blinks sluggishly. She shivers and nearly drops to the ground in a heap, the dirt coating her skin and making her realize how naked she is.

"Shit. Here." The figure says and then something is being tossed gently onto her chest. She opens her eyes and looks down to see a crumpled shirt, before she glances up and sees a gray chest, slight ab lines carved into them and visible even in the moonlight. Her eyes drift further up and catch on two bare breasts, and she lingers longer than she means to before she follows a trail of blood through their valley up up up to a mouth soaked in blood with two sharp fangs cutting through the red.

"Oh." Zoey says, lifts her eyes further to meet the vampire's steady gaze.

"Yeah." She speaks, eyeing her for a moment like she's drawing her own conclusion before gesturing to the shirt piled on Zoey's boobs. "Are you gonna put it on?" Zoey sits up as best she can and holds the shirt in her hands for a moment before regarding the vampire dubiously.

"So you can kill me while my head is trapped in it?" She accuses. "No thanks."

"If I was going to kill you, I would've done it already." Comes the blunt admission and Zoey holds back a scoff.

"Maybe you like to play with your food." She counters and there's a brief staring contest that ensues where she keeps her eyes on the vampire, slightly narrowing them as if to convey like you were doing with me, and the vampire draws a slow lick over one of her fangs as if admonished.

"Put it on." She commands anyway with a tilt of her chin towards Zoey, and this time, Zoey does scoff.

"I'm not cold." She tries to hiss but it comes out as a rasp and she ends up shivering again. Still, she keeps her head held as high as she can, staring down the vampire as the vampire stares back.

Silence falls around them as the stalemate stretches, allowing Zoey to study the way the vampire's scowl contorts and changes before pinching in resignation as she comes to some conclusion.

"I'm not carrying you naked." She sighs and Zoey blinks once, twice, as she uses the rest of her energy to process the statement.

"Wh— You're not carrying me at all." She sputters incredulously but the vampire huffs and crosses her arms.

"Can you stand?" Zoey allows the deflection if only to show that she's fine— but, her spiteful attempt to stand immediately results in her collapsing to the ground.

"Fuck." She groans and the vampire sighs again, this time taking a tentative step forward, like she's as unsure about this as Zoey is.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Comes the next question, and it locks Zoey's body up with grief, her bare nails digging into the dirt as if her claws are still out.

She feels tears start to draw forth and a tightness grow in her chest as the bitter truth rises up in her throat and comes out as acid.

"Like I would tell you." She spits but the only reaction she gets is a slow blink and a slight eyebrow raise, and she wheezes from the effort of holding herself together, melting to the ground in a puddle of exhaustion and fatigue.

"Then… you're coming home with me." Her companion states, and it's shaky, like at any moment the sentence would've fallen apart, but it didn't and Zoey doesn't understand.

She doesn't understand why the vampire says that, why they're both entertaining this idea that Zoey lives, and an even crazier one where her attacker becomes her savior.

She, embarrassingly enough though, starts to tear up. The tears prickle and sting as they use the last of the moisture inside of her, and there's not even enough to stream down her face, and she's thankful for that.

It's not the reaction she's supposed to have, she knows. She's supposed to manage another scoff, or roll her eyes, anything that shows that this is not how the script will go, but she can't do it— not when she hears Do you have somewhere to go? and the Not anymore that couldn't come out of her mouth.

She thinks about how she's been running for so long and how this won't mean what she wants it to, but that this is all she has now and it's a bittersweet taste.

"Why?" She whispers and the vampire runs a hand through her hair.

"Because I can't just leave you here."

"Why not?"

"Because…" She trails off, eyes skittering to the side in an uncharacteristic sign of awkwardness.

"Because you drank me like a soda pop?" Zoey rasps, and she's emotional and delirious and rapidly deteriorating, but even then, she can still make out the brief upward curve to the vampire's lips and the breathy laugh that escapes them.

"Yeah." Is all she says but it's not enough for Zoey.

"Why not just finish me, then?" She challenges because she's tired of dancing around this. The question hangs in the air like a blade over their heads before the vampire stalks towards her slowly, so slow that she lingers on each step like she's performing the waltz, and Zoey's mesmerized, eyes fixed on her both in awe and in fear.

She stops in front of Zoey and lowers herself to the ground, her imposing presence shrinking with her form until it shapes her as just another person. Up close, Zoey can see the slenderness of her face, the sharp angles of her features as if they're carved into stone, and the way that ruby eyes bore into her.

"Because that's not who I am." She murmurs and it sends an involuntary shiver through Zoey, though she blames it on her malfunctioning body. There's nowhere she can look but in the gleaming eyes locked on her, and she stares at the blood red of them, stares at them so intently she can see them soften almost to the pink of the vampire's hair.

She chooses to believe it means something, and so she holds her gaze until she hunches forward to wrestle the shirt on. They lock eyes again when she's done and the vampire gives a small nod in understanding before slowly shifting forward to scoop Zoey into her arms and rising to stand.

Zoey trembles, whether from the breasts pressed against her back or the cold or from the fear of what could happen, but it's muted in the firm arms of the vampire. She doesn't mean to, but she burrows further, feels her eyes blink lazily as she slurs out, "I guess these wouldn't be bad arms to die in," and she feels a vibration run through her, a puff of air ghost over her as the vampire laughs.

Zoey smiles unconsciously and wheezes, "I think I deserve to know your name now." A silence stretches long enough to where she's forced to open her eyes and she blinks in surprise at the sky rolling by behind the vampire's glowing face. She's almost distracted by how regal she looks, but then her eyes catch the crescent moon in the background and then the shame is filling the emptiness inside of her.

"Mira." She hears and she blinks, draws her gaze down from her source of anxiety to the vampire's face, which still remains fixed forward as they glide through the forest.

"Mira." Zoey tastes in a whisper, staring at the v— Mira in awe, and Mira's gaze drifts downwards to lock onto Zoey's as she raises a single eyebrow.

"Well?" She says and Zoey tries for a frown.

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me yours?" Zoey remains silent, watches as Mira's gaze flickers between her and facing forward, her lips twitching with a frown she's trying to not make known.

"Had to see if you actually wanted it." Zoey smirks weakly and it's clear, now, the fleeting smile that crosses Mira's face as she holds back a laugh.

"Zoey." She offers and Mira licks her lips, her tongue running through the dried blood caked on them, mouth opening just enough to show her fangs are no more.

"Zoey." She repeats in a murmur, almost so quiet that Zoey herself doesn't hear, but she does, like the resounding note of a song lingering in the air as her eyes drift closed and she accepts whatever fate lies awaits her on the other side.

#          #          #

Zoey's only supposed to stay for a couple of days until she recovers— that's what Mira's decided (and she assumes Zoey's agreed to).

She's not ready to house a human— or, a werewolf that requires human things— and so she's forced to leave Zoey alone in her hanok the moment they get there.

She lays her gently on the couch in the living room and throws a blanket on her, hovers over her with questions swirling around in her head, before she puts a new shirt on, shrinks into a bat and flies off into the night again.

She knows this isn't smart— that it's dumb and risky and dangerous and a bunch of other things, but Mira doesn't care.

The moment she stepped back from Zoey's naked form with blood dripping from her mouth, she knew all rational thought would leave. Not only just because Zoey's blood had tasted so exquisite on her tongue, but also because she couldn't see past the pale and limp form of the human in front of her, that had almost died because of her.

She couldn't have that again.

Never, she had sworn, and so she'd decided she'd do what she could to help Zoey, even if that meant carrying her back to her house.

She wasn't worried; what would Zoey do when she couldn't even open her eyes? But Mira would be lying if she said that this didn't disrupt things. She's been alone for a while now, has had expectations for how things should go in a life she's carefully crafted but Zoey's a deviation she didn't expect.

Still, this is her fault, and she's determined to see this through.

The trip to the nearest store and the gentle brush of midnight breeze on her skin allow her to collect her thoughts so that when she returns, she doesn't spend so long hovering over Zoey in contemplation again.

She watches only for, maybe, thirty minutes as the blanket she'd thrown over her rises and falls with each ragged breath she takes.

She's still alive, Mira reminds herself, lets that loosen the strangle of guilt and worry she's felt since Zoey'd closed her eyes in her arms.

She doesn't know what to do now, but she knows she has to try.

"Zoey." She whispers, taps gently on the blanket before waiting for bleary eyes to blink open. They don't, and she doesn't want to tap any firmer than she already had, so she uneasily lifts a hand and cups Zoey's cheek, lips parting unconsciously at the softness and the warmth she feels.

"Zoey." She whispers again, a little bit louder this time with a solid press of her cold palm to Zoey's face and, slowly, Zoey's breathing changes and then her eyes flutter open. They widen when they catch sight of Mira and her lips part like she's about to scream before Mira flies away from her.

"Sorry, I— it's me. Mira. Almost killed you, now trying to… help?" She quickly explains in a sputter with a sheepish smile and an awkward hand gesture. Zoey blinks once and shuffles a bit like she's going to sit up, before she winces and sinks further into the couch.

"So you didn't kill me." She rasps.

"No." Zoey's fuzzy gaze slides down from Mira's face to the assortment of food on the table, ranging from a loaf of bread to tteokbokki.

"And you bought me food…"

"Well, yeah, you don't drink blood…" Mira drifts off before clearing her throat and gesturing to the spread of human cuisine.

"I didn't know what to get so I got… this. And, I just thought that maybe you could eat now— to see if it, like, helps or… whatever…" Mira winces at her ineloquence, but tries to offer some sort of smile that certainly looks more like a grimace.

Zoey meets her eyes even though they're half-lidded with weariness, stares at her long enough that Mira starts to regret everything, before softly saying, "Thank you," and Mira blinks and tries to ignore the way the words stir something long dead inside her.

"You don't have to… okay." She coughs before gesturing awkwardly towards the couch. "And, I didn't have a bed so…"

"That's fine." Zoey whispers, snuggling further under the blankets as Mira watches her with furrowed eyebrows.

"And— clothes." Mira sputters, gesturing to the folded clothes on the loveseat across from Zoey, but all she does is nod while her eyes stay closed.

"You're not gonna eat?" Mira wonders.

"I ate before." Is all Zoey says and Mira nods in understanding. Something tickles at the back of her mind about their meeting, though, and she unconsciously licks her lips as she studies the slumbering form of Zoey and wonders who she exactly brought back to her house.

It only lasts for a second though because there's a shaky breath that Zoey takes, her entire body stuttering to a stop like it'll be the last one she takes, before she returns to breathing normally, and it reminds Mira of what's supposed to happen.

Zoey's only here to heal and then she'll be off. There's nothing more Mira needs to know or find out.

Dawn rises and so Mira falls to her room to sleep. It would've come quickly, what with how heavy she feels with Zoey's blood, but Zoey's presence prickles at the back of her mind and she ends up roaming aimlessly through rooms, gravitating near Zoey like she's trapped in her orbit.

She's forgotten what it's like to have another person around or to even talk to one with meaning. It wakes an urge in her, one that scratches and claws at her from the inside.

She wants to scoff at how pathetic she's being, but then Zoey does wake up briefly, delicately eats a couple of slices of an orange and gives Mira a small smile and she finds that she doesn't care about the burn of desperation anymore.

Zoey ends up falling asleep again for long enough that it's morning again by the time she blinks her eyes open, making it more than a full day since she's been here.

It's awkward, sharing a space that has solely been hers for as long as Mira can remember, especially with the reason why she's doing it, but it's nice.

It's something different.

Mira points out the restroom and the kitchen, gestures to the bookshelves and the TV and anything else Zoey can entertain herself with while she's stuck on the couch. She's thanked and takes that as her sign to leave— or, at least, she tries to, but she can't seem to. She knows she's probably being strange, the way she lurks in the background while Zoey aimlessly scrolls through Netflix, but, then again, this situation is already strange itself.

"You don't have to fuss over me." Zoey comments when Mira sets down a glass of water on the table in front of her and she straightens up with a slightly embarrassed look.

"I kinda do." She says with a breathy laugh. "This is my fault."

"So that's as close to an apology as I'll get, huh?" Zoey says and Mira narrows her eyes at her.

"I'm not gonna say sorry for trying to feed myself." She states sharply.

"You almost killed me." Zoey counters, scrunching her eyebrows as if she were crossing her arms, which are trapped underneath her blanket.

"You were a wolf." Mira growls, the irritation almost drawing out her fangs until she sees Zoey's smirk.

"All I'm hearing are excuses." She chirps and Mira stares at her for a moment.

"Fine." She concedes, bending down to snatch the glass back up. "Get your own."

"Wait!" Zoey whines with outstretched grabby hands and Mira barely suppresses her laugh before she hands the water back.

"Thank you." She mumbles and Mira responds with a nod.

"We can agree to disagree. For now." She finalizes before leaving.

This time she stays away for a couple of hours— to test things, in a sense. She really shouldn't be fussing over Zoey, even if it's her fault that she's in that state in the first place, but she needs to let Zoey breathe, needs to let her feel like she has freedom to do whatever she wants now that she's awake and had time to rest— even if that means leaving.

She keeps herself busy for a full day, even leaves her hanok for a couple hours just to see what'll happen in the space and comes back to find Zoey’s still there. She ignores whatever she feels about it, decides that she’ll still maintain some space between them, so that they can both breathe in this strange situation and so that they won’t believe it’s anything more than what it is.

She listens in on Zoey every once in a while— just to make sure her heart's still beating and she's still breathing steadily. It's one of these times that she hears a loud bang followed by a pained, "Fuck," and then she's moving without thinking.

She appears in front of Zoey and slightly startles her as she hovers in the doorway of the hallway bathroom.

"Shit, you scared me." Zoey breathes, one hand gripping the doorframe, the other pressed against her chest.

"Are you alright?" Mira asks.

"Yes, just banged my toe trying to…" She gestures to the toilet behind her before turning to Mira. "I'm fine."

"Good. It'd be inconvenient for you to die after I'm trying to make sure you don't."

"Yeah, after you—"

"We don't have to rehash this every time."

"I don't know, it's kinda fun." Zoey's smiling again and it seems like it always draws one from Mira, but she fights it.

She lingers as she watches Zoey heave with the effort it takes for her to be standing up and moving. Zoey watches her back, purses her lips as she debates what she wants to say.

"Um…” She says and wobbles a bit when she takes a step forward, and that’s enough for Mira to stretch out an arm, which Zoey clamps onto with a grateful smile.

They hobble back to the living room where Mira helps Zoey settle down on the couch, but Zoey's hand doesn't leave when Mira tries to separate, instead gripping tighter to stop her retreat.

Mira looks down at her in confusion but Zoey stares at her, eyes wide and fixed like she's drilling her way to Mira's soul.

"Before…" Zoey speaks quietly, "you said, 'That's not who I am.'" She doesn't say anything more as she stares at Mira, but Mira remains silent, waiting for her to voice the unspoken question.

"What did you mean by that?" Mira licks her lips, eyes skittering around before eventually settling back on Zoey's.

"I don't feed on humans." She answers eventually, face kept painfully neutral as she watches Zoey absorb this information.

Zoey stares at her silently and intensely, long enough that Mira has to resist the urge to fidget, before she murmurs, "Okay," and turns her attention back to the couple making out on screen.

Mira hovers off to the side awkwardly, watching Zoey pretend like she's watching the movie, as she contemplates the question that's been boiling within her since Zoey's been here.

"If we're asking questions," She tries, "how were you a—"

"Don't." Zoey cuts in, soft yet desperate, and Mira blinks, slightly startled. She studies the way Zoey's face twitches, like she's trying not to explode from within, and she understands.

"Okay." She murmurs back and Zoey turns to her and gives her a tiny grateful smile— one that sits on her face like a grimace.

Mira feels like hissing, or puncturing herself with one of her fangs. This isn't them getting to know one another, this isn't them becoming whatever. This is two strangers coming together out of necessity, each trying to navigate it to the best of their abilities.

Zoey only asked because she needed to know to protect herself.

Mira doesn't need to know anything because she's the one who has all the power here.

It tastes bitter in her throat, but she understands. She should be grateful, at the very least, that Zoey has trusted her enough to sleep in her presence and to stay here.

But this was a transaction. Nothing more, nothing less, and it was time Mira stop fooling herself into believing otherwise.

"What do you normally do?" Zoey asks suddenly after Mira has spun on her heel to slink away.

"What?" She sounds, turning to face Zoey with a slow blink.

"I mean— I'm just…" Zoey fumbles before flopping a hand in what Mira assumes is a vague gesture.

"You can stay." She ends on, eyes peering up at her through her lashes. "With me. Here. So you can make sure I don't do anything… or die."

"Oh." Mira sounds and she doesn't want to think about the fact that she wouldn't have known the answer to the question because everything before now has been a blur of nothing.

"Okay." She answers and she knows that if her heart could beat any faster, it would be running wildly right now as Zoey shuffles over on the couch to make room for her.

She sinks in next to her, feeling like she's melting into it and becoming so boneless that it causes Zoey to look at her in confusion.

"You okay?" She asks and it's now that Mira's sitting, now that she's still and not flitting about the place like an excitable puppy, that she realizes she feels a bit weird.

"Yeah," She responds, "I just—" A cough suddenly erupts from her, shaking her body forcefully, and her eyebrows furrow in confusion before she jokes, "You got me sick."

Zoey rolls her eyes and argues, "I'm not sick, I'm ill."

"That's the same thing."

"No. The difference is that I'm dying because I have like two drops of blood in me."

"I did not drink that much." Mira protests vehemently and Zoey scoffs.

"Sure." Mira pauses, then, for a moment, to think about how much she actually did drink. Zoey's blood had flowed so sweetly on her tongue that she knows she probably overindulged. She'd never planned to stop drinking if it wasn't for Zoey turning, and she's now realizing she never stopped to consider what that meant for her.

"Oh, shit." Mira utters and Zoey turns to her with concern.

"What?"

"I think—" Mira coughs once, twice, "—you did get me sick— with your stupid fucking blood." Zoey stares at her for a beat before she starts laughing— which is more like wheezing due to how weak she still is.

"Oh, this is perfect." She comments and Mira tries not to grumble.

"No, it's not. This is all your fault."

"Really?" Zoey counters with an eyebrow raised and Mira sighs.

"No." She concedes because she's not too prideful to admit this shit show started with her— in a sense.

"I mean, I'm still right but I'm in the wrong."

"Whatever that means." Zoey brushes her off and Mira laughs before the act has her dizzy and she has to stop.

"Guess we're not moving from the couch." Zoey declares and Mira hums in the affirmative. She's not so weak that she can't move from the couch (but she can feel it coming soon) so she opts to gather supplies from the kitchen before they become invalids. Zoey chugs the water she's given while Mira gulps down a blood bag in hopes that it'll make her feel better, before Zoey returns to looking for something to watch.

Mira's fine with sitting in silence, doesn't know how to navigate conversing with Zoey now that it has to be intentional, but she can't stop herself from scoffing when Zoey pulls up another romance movie.

"What?" Zoey says.

"Nothing." Mira responds but it's obviously not and Zoey prods until Mira bursts out that she'd rather watch an action movie. Zoey laughs at that but browses until she settles on one and Mira pretends like this act of consideration doesn't mean something to her.

Zoey talks throughout the whole movie—  even adding sound effects to certain scenes— and Mira basks in it, almost forgetting their relationship and the fact that she's currently suffering.

"This is so stupid." Zoey snorts at one point as they take turns playing some game Mira'd bought but never played (like much of her library) and, whether or not she's talking about not them both being sick or having to share one singular controller, Mira agrees— only slightly, though, because maybe it's not so bad hearing Zoey laugh this close.

She ends up falling asleep on the couch right alongside Zoey, who seems to have taken to Mira's nocturnal schedule.

They wake up feeling worse than before and a single glance shared between the two of them solidifies their place on the couch again, where it's essentially the same as yesterday as they groan and whine and laugh while they scroll through Mira’s Youtube Recommended.

"What if I tried to kill you right now?" Zoey gargles with a laugh as their hours on the couch continue to blend into one. Mira knows it's a joke but she keeps her face neutral as she stares at Zoey, watching as the jovial expression she has slowly wanes the longer the silence stretches and she questions if she's overstepped.

Just as Zoey opens her mouth to speak, Mira points a finger at herself.

"Two." She rasps before pointing at Zoey. "Oh." Zoey blinks before she registers the statement like a slap in the face.

"You would not win again!"

"Again, huh?"

Zoey opens her mouth to protest the statement but nothing comes out and she ends up rolling her eyes but she can't hide the smile on her face. Neither can Mira and, for a moment, they look at each other with light smiles, their eyes widening slightly as if they're realizing at the same time how weird this is, this camaraderie they seemed to have found.

On the fifth day since Zoey'd arrived— and Mira knows it's been five days because time has never mattered to her before—, Mira's been molded to the couch for two days now, but Zoey's managed to peel herself off of it on multiple occasions with an energy she hadn't really possessed before.

"You're looking a bit better." Mira chokes out as she looks up from the book she's reading.

"Yeah, I'll be fine by like tomorrow, I think." Zoey says it quietly and can't seem to meet Mira's eyes when it comes out and Mira nods uselessly before going back to staring at words on a page.

They're silent, now, as Mira pretends to read and Zoey clicks buttons on the remote like it's a piano, the tension in the room suffocating them as they ignore the elephant in the room.

But, Mira supposes this quiet detachment is better than holding onto the companionship they've shared. Mira can acknowledge it, now, because she understands that that's all she'll have and that’s all it’ll be.

The sun starts to rise and Mira musters up enough energy this time to go to her bedroom. Before she leaves, though, she glances at Zoey, who's lying stiff on the couch with a grave expression, and croaks out, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Zoey whispers back, and doesn't make a joke about the fact that it's morning.

Mira wakes up dead…er than she normally feels and, as much as she wants to deny it, it's not just because of Zoey's blood, but also the girl herself.

Without meaning to, she listens and waits, searching for the steady beat of Zoey's heart. It's nowhere to be found and it's with a long drawn-out sigh that Mira concludes what she knew was always going to happen, but, maybe, wished hadn't; Zoey's gone.

She doesn't bother to open the lid to her coffin, simply stares at the darkness and tries not to think about the way she can already feel Zoey's absence like a void growing inside her.

She laughs because she knew something like this was going to happen. The moment Zoey'd agreed to come back with her and she'd said whatever dumb thing that made her laugh, Mira knew it'd be hard to go back to being alone.

Loneliness wasn't something she'd ever wanted, it was just something that had found her. And, of course, out of nowhere she gets a taste of what it means to be near someone, to feel like she takes up space, to feel like she matters even if she's always felt like it wasn't possible for her.

And it had to be someone who shone like the sun when all Mira's ever known was the coldness of the moon.

It had to be Zoey.

Mira laughs again before it bleeds into a sigh as she closes her eyes. Maybe, she'll try and sleep some more so it'll reset everything.

She's been alone before and, yes, this taste of companionship will make it all the more painful, but she can do it again.

She has to.

"Mira?" Startles her out of her thoughts and it's only when she hears the door to her bedroom creak open, that she realizes it's right here.

"I don't mean to barge in but—" She opens her coffin lid with a slight creak and she rises, coming face to face with Zoey. When Zoey sees her, her eyes brighten and then she gives a wobbly smile.

"Hey." She greets, does a slight wave that's awkward with the bag she's clutching.

"Um, hey." Mira rasps back.

"Sorry to enter your sanctuary," Zoey laughs awkwardly as she takes a tentative step forward, "but I thought— um, here." She shoves the jar forward, quickly shuffles over to set it on a nearby table.

"It's food… for you. Obviously. Um, you were sick and you helped me so I wanted to help you." She explains and fidgets nervously in place.

Mira doesn't move, just glances at the jar, then at Zoey before asking, "How did you get that?"

"I didn't steal your card or your money or whatever." She quickly reassures. "I just wandered around until I found a butcher shop and asked them if I could collect some blood. I told them it was for an art piece."

Mira's gaze shifts back to the murky red liquid in the jar, bits and pieces of intestines and fat floating in it, and she thinks about the bags and bottles of blood she already has stored in her fridge, that she knows Zoey has seen her drink.

She looks up at Zoey's hopeful expression that she struggles to maintain in the face of Mira's silence and the unspoken intention of her actions, and fights the smile she feels trying to take over her face.

"Do you think…" Mira starts as a warmth grows inside her, "you could get me more tomorrow?" Zoey blinks and her mouth drops open for a moment, before her whole face brightens, a smile splitting across it and shiny eyes staring at Mira like she's deserving of it.

"Yeah." Zoey says as she nods eagerly and almost bounces in place. Mira doesn't bother hiding her smile now as she shakes her head and looks at this woman who's completely changed everything for her.

"Come help me up." Mira demands with a wave of her hand from where she's still sitting in her coffin.

"Oh, is it my turn to carry you?" Zoey quips as she strides over and Mira rolls her eyes.

"As if you could—" Mira's sentence ends in an uncharacteristic squeak as Zoey scoops her up.

"You were saying?" She smirks and Mira ignores her completely as she purposely crosses her arms so she doesn't loop them around Zoey's neck.

Zoey chatters away about her adventure out, regaling about chasing a stray cat and finding an unopened box of crackers in the street (which she thankfully didn't eat from) and Mira smiles and laughs all throughout it, thinking about a tomorrow where she maybe won't have to be alone anymore.

#          #          #

Rumi stumbles and collides with a tree, nails scratching uselessly against it as she tries to hold herself upright. She presses her forehead against the bark, taking deep, steady breaths, before she opens her eyes and lurches forward again.

Here should be enough. Here would be enough, but Rumi feels the pull like a fire in her soul and it warms her. She wants more of it, wants to feel it light her up from the inside, and so she marches forward, fingers tingling with life again as they clutch at tree trunks, chest heaving with deep breaths as she draws closer and closer to the hanok.

She won't get too close, she promises, staggers just to the last tree before the clearing where the hanok rests, and sags against it with relief.

She'll rest here. She'll stay here for just a little while, just until the warmth seeps into her bones.

Rumi barely registers the whoosh before a smear of white and pink drops down in front of her.

A voice starts, "Who are y—" before Rumi screams and then chokes off into a cough, keeling over and withering from the strength it takes to hold herself together.

"Mira!" She hears a voice shout in a whine and she knows every step that's being taken towards her because something inside her grows with the anticipation. She feels a life slowly being nurtured and cradled like it's something that deserves to live and the dark purple lines carved into her skin slowly start to lighten for the first time.

She sputters out a gasp like she's breathing for the first time, and it startles back whatever's ambushed her and finally draws her attention to it.

It's a woman, pale and tall and lanky, with pink hair and a scowl that reveals two long fangs.

She watches as scarlet eyes trace the patterns on her skin before locking with her eyes and staying there.

Rumi doesn't move, nor does her observer, and it's almost comforting, the way she's being watched, because it makes her feel seen.

"I told you to wait for— oh." Rumi's eyes snap immediately to the short woman that's settled in beside the vampire, her face a picture of kindness and her skin vibrating with an endless pulse of energy.

"Woah." She whispers as her wide eyes greedily study Rumi's marks, but the vampire quickly takes a step forward so that she partially shields the other woman.

"You have five seconds to tell me who you are or I'll kill you." She growls and Rumi breathes in the threat, stores it inside her like a promise as she shifts her eyes back to the vampire. She licks her lips, opens her mouth to speak—

"No, you won't."

"Zoey." The vampire— Mira, she remembers was shouted— groans at her companion, turning to her with an irritated look, but Zoey brushes her off.

"I won't allow you to." She says, moving to step around Mira, all while her eyes are fixed on Rumi.

"What? She could be dangerous." Mira protests with a hand on her shoulder to halt her and Zoey whirls to face her.

"Exactly! Could be. Look at her." She gestures to Rumi, who can't help the frown that crosses her face at whatever's being implied.

Mira argues, "She's not human," but Zoey counters, "So? That just means she's like us," and there's a gentleness to it, one that seems to round Mira's edges and brush away her sharpness.

Rumi tries not to get stuck on like us as Mira sighs and turns her gaze back on her, eyes less sharp and a gentle rose color.

She knows she must look a sight; ragged clothes loose on her body, long purple unkempt hair fluttering around her, patterns pulsing a soft lilac, but Mira stares at her as if she sees none of that, as if she's scraped under all the filth and strife that's been caked on Rumi for years and sees the desperation underneath— the chord that was struck with like us.

Without looking away, Mira nods, and then Zoey's stepping closer to Rumi.

"She's not gonna say sorry." She comments with a small crooked smile and a jerk of a thumb towards Mira, who scoffs and rolls her eyes before crossing her arms.

"She shouldn't." Rumi rasps, eyes shifting between the two. "I wasn't trying to do anything to you guys." Mira's eyes drift back to her, narrowing slightly in suspicion but she keeps quiet while Zoey stares at her intensely, unblinking and unwavering.

Rumi shifts slightly in place— not out of fear, but something else, as if she's trying to get comfortable like this is the end of her journey.

"So what were you doing then?" Zoey asks softly. "Who are you?" Rumi stares at Zoey and, even though the moon's just barely in the sky, she swears there's a blue glow to her.

"I'm Rumi..." She croaks out, eyes unable to part from Zoey's, "and I'm here because of you."

"What?" Zoey chokes out as Mira scoffs and Rumi licks her lips.

"You were singing my song."

"What?"

"I felt you." She explains, almost pleading.

"Zoey." Mira grunts in warning, stepping forward to stand next to her and Zoey turns to her.

"Let her explain." She cuts in before she turns back to Rumi with an awkward smile. "Please explain because you're not making any sense."

"'What It Sounds Like'." Rumi rushes out. "You've been singing it, right?"

"Wait—" Zoey's eyebrows furrow in confusion, "you know that song?"

"That fucking song." Mira grumbles hotly.

"It's by like some underground artist." Zoey begins, words starting to flow out in a ramble. "She's only made that one song and, even then, you can't find it anymore. I just barely managed to download it beforehand. Her name is—"

"'Roomforyou'." Rumi completes, before giving a small smile that teeters awkwardly. "That's… me." It's silent for a moment as Mira rolls her eyes and Zoey's eyes widen.

"That's you!?" She exclaims and Mira cuts in.

"She's lying."

"Hold on." Rumi wheezes with a hand held up that causes Mira to twitch. She draws in a deep breath, feels her soul swell with anticipation as Zoey watches on, and lets it all out.

"Nothing but the truth now
Nothing but the proof of what I am
The worst of what I came from, patterns I'm ashamed of
Things that even I don't understand

I tried to—" Rumi chokes on the note, unable to make it past the swell of emotions lodged in her throat. She hasn't thought about that song, hasn't sung it in so long, but the words are always sitting on her heart, ready to voice a pain she’s carried everywhere with her.

"Whoa." Zoey murmurs and even Mira lets out a breath, like she was holding it in the entire time Rumi was singing.

"It's… been a while." Rumi mumbles shyly, and that seems to break the spell over Mira.

"Are we seriously entertaining this?" She scoffs.

"It is her, Mira," Zoey proclaims, "and she came here for a reason."

"Yeah," Mira shouts, "and the reason is you! Like that isn't weird at all!" Her glare cuts to Rumi and Rumi feels it like a hundred knives.

"But it's not just me, is it?" Zoey says, and her gaze is gentle and probing.

"We don't even know what she is!"

"I'm a demon." Rumi confesses, tries not to dwell on the bitter taste of it. "Your soul," She turns to lock eyes with Zoey, "connected to mine."

"What?"

"Oh, come on."

"Through my music." Rumi continues. "I don't know what it makes you feel… actually, I do, if it's anything like I felt when I made it. But, you feel something when you listen to it and, as much as it helps you, makes you feel seen… it helps me." She takes a deep breath, looks at both Zoey and Mira before she bares herself before them.

"It gives me life… literally." Zoey's eyebrows raise and Mira's jaw clenches.

She scoffs, "So you steal—"

"No." Rumi interrupts sharply, doesn't mean for it to come out like a blade, but this is a truth she needs known now because it's one she's been chasing her whole miserable existence.

"No." She tries softer this time and their rigid demeanors ease. "I don't necessarily feed. I don't want that. I just… thrive."

"And you're just… telling us this?" Mira questions skeptically and Rumi simply shrugs.

"I have nothing to lose." Mira raises an eyebrow as if to say Your life, and Rumi can't help it; she gives a wry smile because if only Mira knew.

"So, me singing your music helps you live?" Zoey interjects, stepping forward as if pulled by a string connecting them.

"In a sense, yes. I felt pulled towards you— I was… I was just going to stay here, just to feel you."

"Like a creep." Mira growls and Rumi shrinks.

"I'm sorry, I— I know, but I didn't have a choice." She pleads. "I didn't think you guys would notice me and I just… finally felt alive."

"Finally?" Mira echoes and Rumi can see her eyes narrow, growing sharp as they take more of her haggard appearance again and start drawing some conclusion, but Rumi doesn't say anything though.

There are some pieces of truth she deserves to keep to herself.

"Mira." Zoey starts, turning to her, but Mira's already shaking her head.

"Zoey, no."

"Come on." Zoey pleads.

"No."

"Remember how we met?"

"That's different." Mira counters and Zoey's lips curl upwards with mischief.

"Yeah, because this time instead of almost killing her, we can literally help her live."

"I did help you live! And you were a wolf!" Mira protests exasperatedly, like they've had this conversation several times already, and Zoey scoffs.

"I find it hard to believe—"

"I was hungry and—"

"—that you couldn't tell—"

"—it wasn't even a full—"

"—that I wasn't a were— whatever." Zoey huffs with a wave of her hand.

"You don't—" Rumi interrupts awkwardly, their attention snapping to her in an instant, "—have to do anything. I can… just go. This wasn't supposed to be anything."

"Well, it is now." Mira states bluntly. "You know where we live." It's quiet again— unnerving this time— as Zoey and Mira converse silently with their eyes, before Mira stares at her.

Rumi stares back, trying to peel Mira's layers back as she knows Mira's doing to her, and it's because of this she notes the subtle change in her face, the way her jaw unlocks and the creases of agitation ease.

"You can walk, right?" She asks and Rumi blinks and stammers out, "Yes." Then, Mira sighs, long and drawn out.

"Come on, then." She grumbles, tilting her head towards the hanok and Rumi's eyes widen because she doesn't want to hope, doesn't want to believe, but then Zoey's squealing and throwing her arms around Mira, who softens immediately and melts into the hug.

Zoey soon separates and starts for the hanok, chatting adamantly like the two of them are following her.

"You don't have to do this." Rumi says, uncertainty and desire to not hope rooting her to the ground and Mira looks down at her, letting the silence and tension stretch, before extending a slender hand.

"I know." She says as Rumi slowly reaches out. "But I will." She nods towards Zoey, who's noticed they're not following her and is making her way back.

"She sees the good in everything." Then, Mira yanks, pulling Rumi up and against her faster than Rumi can process.

"I don't." She growls in her ear. Zoey returns and, noticing how close they are, pins Mira with a scrutinizing look and a warning of, "Mira," and Mira backs up with her hands raised as if she's the picture of innocence.

"By the way, I'm Zoey. Werewolf. And the one threatening you is Mira. Obviously, she's a vampire." Zoey says, and makes a sweeping motion to get Rumi to start walking towards the hanok first. Rumi glances at Zoey uneasily, but feels the anxiety lessen at her bright smile.

"Rumi. Um, demon." She rasps as she trudges forward, Zoey bouncing beside her and Mira haunting the backdrop.

"Yeah, you told us already." Zoey giggles and Rumi manages a puff of air that comes close to a laugh.

"Well, the circumstances weren't ideal." She mumbles unintentionally and Zoey laughs out loud at that. Rumi manages a glance back to Mira, whose scowl is aflame and directed at her, before she takes a deep breath and faces forward.

"Why are you doing this?" Rumi asks quietly.

"It's as you said; your music makes me feel… seen." Zoey confesses shyly, cheeks puffed with words unsaid as she gives a small smile.

"And if I can help you… then I want to help you." It's said as if it's as simple as that and Rumi doesn't know what to do with this earnestness that she's being shown.

"And we monsters have to stick together." Zoey adds, before she starts waving her hands around as she rambles, "And now that I have the roomforyou here, I actually had some questions about What It Sounds Like, like why—" Rumi's so caught in listening to Zoey, in the way she breathes life into her again, that she stumbles.

"Oh! Be caref—" The moment Zoey touches her to catch her, Rumi feels a flush of fire run through her body, electrifying her senses and causing her to gasp. Her widened eyes take note of Zoey and Mira's own, and the way they stare at where Zoey's hand is clasped around Rumi's arm.

Because there, radiating outwards from the contact, her patterns glimmer golden, bright enough that it glows on all three of their faces.

"Woah." Zoey whispers for the third time, eyes fixed on the glowing patterns that have slowly started to dim.

"Wow." Mira says in awe, her gaze drinking in the sight of the cooling yellow.

"Yeah." Rumi murmurs, watching as the gold completely fades away and returns to its normal violet and Zoey slowly draws her hand back.

Then, the three of them glance up at each other, unable to deny that this was the start of something meaningful.