Prologue: A New Life Begi (1/1)

It was a strange experience to wake up after dying, head pounding, hunger gnawing painfully at his stomach, and wearing a shirt that was definitely not his.He was lying face up on a black suede couch, a fluffy white bed pillow tucked behind his head.  The room was all monochrome with white walls, white plush carpeting, and black furniture.  It appeared to be a small living room with not much else except a flat screen TV, a suede arm chair that matched the couch Mark was laying on, a wooden end table with a small lamp, and a long glass table in front of him that Mark could've propped his feet on if he’d had the energy.Mark carefully pushed himself to a sitting position with shaky noodle arms and immediately groaned at the surge of pain.  He closed his burning eyes and rubbed at his eyelids with the pads of his fingers as footsteps approached from another room.“Hey, Jaebum, how long should we keep the body before we just give up and trash—holy SHIT.”Mark slowly turned his throbbing head toward the voice, wincing at the sudden shout.  It was the same dark-haired boy from earlier, the one named Jinyoung.“Well, I guess that answers that question,” Jinyoung continued.  “You scared the hell out of me.”“He's alive?!”  came a screech from across the house, and in a sudden flash the silver-haired boy—Jaebum—was standing behind Jinyoung.”“How did you just-” Mark began.  “You know what, never mind.  I don't think I want to know how any of this is possible.”The redhead sighed.  He was too weak and exhausted to deal with the existential crisis that was sure to come if he thought too deeply about all that he'd seen that day.  The sooner he could get out of that house and away from the killers who’d saved him, the sooner he'd be able to push that day’s events to the back of his mind and forget that any of it had ever happened.“I really appreciate you guys bringing me back here and taking care of me,” Mark went on, “but I really should go since I'm sure that my parents and my best friend are in panic mode.  So, uh, thanks for not leaving me there to die.”Mark swung his legs over the side of the couch in one swift motion, but he overestimated the strength he had left in his body and tumbled to the ground as he tried to stand.Jaebum dashed forward and caught Mark just before he hit the carpet in a speed that shouldn't have been possible.“Hey, be careful,” Jaebum chided, propping Mark back up against the couch as though he weighed nothing.  “You aren’t strong enough to even stand let alone leave.  Here, let me go get you something to drink.”Mark sighed, resigned, as the silver-haired boy disappeared through the door he’d come from.  And just like that Mark was once again left alone with Jinyoung.  The redhead shivered as Jinyoung’s eyes raked over him in a way that seemed like a threat.  Though both boys were quite obviously dangerous, Jaebum’s presence was still somehow comforting, like an older brother that would protect his family no matter the cost.  Jinyoung, on the other hand, had a certain wildness to him that Mark couldn’t quite place.  His golden brown eyes had a mischievous twinkle, and only one corner of his mouth curved up into a crooked grin as he stared Mark down in a way that was extremely unsettling.  Mark couldn’t help but worry that Jinyoung had some evil plan to make him keep quiet about what he’d seen.“You know,” Jinyoung began, reading Mark’s expression, “we don’t really give a shit that you saw us kill those assholes.  You’re a part of this now anyways.  Maybe one day it’ll be you doing the killing.”Mark shivered at the thought, and his throat closed up when he tried to speak.  Jinyoung had said the words with such certainty that Mark was afraid anything he said to deny them would end up sounding like a lie.  All he could do was close his eyes and shake his head in disbelief.  What had he gotten himself into that he could no longer confidently say he would never kill someone?His mind flashed back to that clearing in the woods, the red and ragged flesh slit open along a stranger’s neck, the blood staining the bright green grass.  Hues of red and green danced behind his closed eyelids.  Red and green, and the shade from the towering trees that had kept the bright sun at bay.  The colors swirled together in his head until suddenly Mark was the one tearing open somebody’s skin with just his teeth.  The feeling of hot and sticky red liquid dripping down his chin was almost too real to be his imagination.

Then something was being pressed into Mark’s sweating hands, and his eyes snapped open to see a blue plastic water bottle.  He was almost surprised to find that he was still sitting on a black suede couch in an unfamiliar living room, and he hadn’t somehow been transported back to that terrifying moment.Jaebum sat down gently beside him and Mark let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.“Don’t listen to him,” Jaebum said in a soft and soothing voice.  “He’s just trying to scare you.  Drink, you’ll feel much better.  Then we’ll talk about where we go from here.”Mark ran through every reason why he shouldn’t drink from a potentially-drugged bottle given to him by a strange murderer, but he caught a sudden whiff of something sweet and strong that was definitely not water, and a fierce hunger flared in his stomach.  All reason fled from his mind as he took a desperate gulp.The thick liquid that hit his tongue had a taste like honey but with a metallic bite.  It was impossible to describe in a way that sounded anywhere near as appetizing as it was, but it was better than anything he’d ever tasted before.  The syrupy liquid was sweeter than sugar, richer than chocolate cake, and more addicting than any drug.  He felt his strength returning immediately–or perhaps returning was the wrong word, because the power surging through him was a hundred times more than he’d ever had before.  Mark wouldn’t have been surprised if he could move mountains.  Maybe they were pumping him with steroids, but the warm tingling sensation spreading through his entire body was too wondrous for him to even consider stopping.  And better yet, the agonizing hunger gnawing at his stomach had ceased for the first time since Mark had woken up.The redhead tipped the water bottle straight up and down, forcing the contents to rush out like an avalanche.  A thin line trickled from his lips and down his chin, leaving a bloodred stain where it dripped onto his jeans.Mark shut down.Holding the bottle as far away from his body as his arm would stretch and using all of his willpower to keep himself from downing the rest of it, Mark used the back of his free hand to warily wipe his lips.  The bloody smear left on his pale white skin confirmed his worst suspicions.  The water bottle exploded against the far wall in a burst of blue plastic shards and sticky crimson, and Jaebum jumped in surprise.  Mark looked at his hands in confusion–he hadn’t even realized that he’d thrown it.Without a word, Mark stood up on strong legs.  The fatigue had left his system completely.  He made a beeline for the front door, averting his eyes from the bloody mess in the corner.  Avoidance was the only way that Mark could think to resolve this situation.  Pretend it wasn’t happening because there was no way in hell that it even could be happening.  Shit like this didn’t exist, and Mark refused to even acknowledge the possibility.Jinyoung rose to follow the redhead, but Jaebum put a hand out to stop him.“Hear those footsteps?  Bambam is here,” Jaebum said in explanation, and somehow Mark heard it even though it was a whisper, even heard the footsteps coming from outside.  “Maybe he should handle this.  Hopefully he’ll do better than we did.”The white wooden door swung outward before Mark could reach the handle.  There on the porch was a brunet with honey blonde bangs and caramel skin.  He was younger even than Mark, maybe sixteen at the oldest–much too young to be associated with such dangerous people.  The boy stared at him with wide, shocked eyes, his hand frozen halfway to putting a set of car keys in his pocket.“Who are you?” the brunet asked.  “A human?”  He stood on his tiptoes and peeked around Mark to stare accusingly at Jinyoung and Jaebum, who each had innocent smiles plastered on their faces.  “Since when do you two bring your food home to play with?  And cute food at that.  This isn’t a… kinky thing, is it?”“Of course not!” Jaebum spluttered out indignantly, cheeks flushed pink.  Jinyoung only grinned wider and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, earning a disgusted snort from the newcomer.But Mark barely heard the exchange.  He was still focused on the first thing the new boy had said.  Human?  Bambam, as Jaebum had called him, pushed past Mark and into the living room while the redhead just stood there frozen, looking down at his hands as if they held all the answers in the universe.“Human,” Mark whispered into the air.  “Am I not… human?”It was then that Bambam noticed the bloody mess in the corner of the room.  The lightbulbs in the room suddenly exploded in a bright flash, sparks and broken glass spraying out in all directions.  Mark flinched and covered his face with his arms, but luckily the shards didn’t reach him.“You turned someone?!” Bambam screeched in a resounding voice that made the whole room shake.  That voice seemed to be filled with some kind of strange force, and Mark couldn’t help but cower in fear.  Despite how dangerous Mark knew Jinyoung and Jaebum to be, somehow this newcomer came off as even more powerful and terrifying.Mark almost didn’t say anything as his eyes darted back and forth between Jinyoung, Jaebum, and Bambam, but his curiosity and outrage won over his unease.  “Turned?  What do you mean ‘turned?’  What did you DO to me?”His tone was filled with disbelief, and yet in some horrifying way, Mark felt that things were finally beginning to make sense.  Mark’s hands were shaking so badly that he had to clench them into fists.“Well, I can see that you did the absolute worst possible job explaining the situation to him,” Bambam groaned.  “I can’t exactly say that I’m surprised.  Let me handle this since you seem to be lacking in sympathy.”  The two boys quickly stood up until Bambam gave them a pointed glare.  “Sit back down.  I’m not done with you two yet.”Jaebum huffed and plopped back down on the black suede.  Jinyoung followed suit and flopped down as close to Jaebum as possible, curling up against his side and dropping his head into Jaebum’s shoulder.  For the first time since Mark had woken up, Jinyoung’s eyes shone with regret.Bambam sighed and pulled at the tips of his blond bangs in contemplation.  Finally he turned a friendly gaze to Mark.  “Anyways.  I apologize for these two idiots.  I’m Bambam.  I’m sixteen, sort of.  It’s nice to meet you!”The newcomer stepped toward Mark and stuck out his hand for a handshake, but the redhead pulled back cautiously.  He couldn’t trust him no matter how friendly he was.  He couldn’t trust any of them.“Sort of?” Mark asked warily.Bambam awkwardly retracted his outstretched hand and used it to rub the back of his neck.  “I’ve been alive a lot longer than you.  Several hundred years longer.  But that’s beside the point.  What’s your name?”Something about Bambam’s words rang true even in their impossibility, but Mark didn’t want to give much thought to them.  If he started accepting all of these weird occurrences as truth, that meant his normal life was over.  Mark couldn’t help but hold on to his selfish desire to keep that from happening for as long as possible.  He had a brief thought to turn and flee, slipping back into his regular life and pretending that none of this had happened in the first place, just like he’d wanted to do earlier.  But he had a feeling that he wouldn’t get very far if he tried to run, so instead he just murmured, “Mark.”“Mark,” Bambam repeated.  “Okay, Mark, how old are you?”“Eighteen.”Bambam approached Mark carefully as if he were trying to tame a wild animal.  “Okay, so you might want to sit down for this.”The brunet gently placed a hand on Mark’s back, and this time the redhead didn’t shy away from it.  As soon as Mark felt that calming, reassuring touch, he melted into it.  It felt like something strangely soft and pleasant was flowing into Mark through Bambam’s fingertips.  Whatever was inside of Mark that was holding him together seemed to break, and his knees suddenly gave out.  He leaned all of his weight into Bambam to keep from falling, clutching the boy’s t-shirt in his fists, and allowed himself to be ushered to the couch by the brunet.  Mark cast a distrustful glance to where Jaebum and Jinyoung were cuddling and took a seat on the farthest cushion from the pair, scooting as close to the armrest as he could to put even more space between them.“Don’t w