Chapter Text
It’s already nighttime when Jeongguk arrives at Hope. He hears the soft strings of a lute and listens to Taehyung’s voice as he sings.
“For the Witcher.. heartless cold, paid in coin of gold… He comes, he'll go, leave naught behind, but heartache and woe. Deep, deep woe.”
The tune is so eerily familiar, Taehyung loves it, he’s played it multiple times in front of Jeongguk already. From the lyrics he knows it’s a sort of lullaby to scare kids into fearing witchers, but he cannot place it. So familiar and yet, not at all.
“Birds are silent for the night, cows turned in as daylight dies, but one soul lies anxious wide awake, fearing all manner of ghouls, hags and wraiths…”
Taehyung sees him come in and lets the last note of the song ring out as he smiles at him, “Hi, Jeonggukkie.” He places his lute down on the table and approaches the witcher, pressing an almost shy kiss to his lips.
“Where have you been?” he asks.
“Dealing with the stupid murders,” Jeongguk sighs, grabbing the pouch of gold out of his back pocket and sets it down on the table, “This is for Hope, to get it back up and running.”
Taehyung carefully takes the pouch and opens it, his eyes widening as he shakes his head, “What? No. No no, Jeongguk, I’m not taking your money. I’ll figure it out, don’t worry about it.”
Jeongguk silences him with a kiss, exhaling the breath into Taehyung’s mouth, “Shut up and take it. When I catch the killer I’ll get even more.”
Taehyung nods, his face scrunched up. “I made dinner if you wish to eat. It’s probably cold by now but it’s better than go sleep on an empty stomach.”
So Jeongguk eats, a mug of beer next to him. He watches as Taehyung twirls around the kitchen, tidying everything up.
“What’s this song you keep singing?” Jeongguk asks, placing a piece of bread in his mouth. “The one about witchers.”
“My mother kept singing it to me when I was young. She was always so fearful of you. I’m not entirely sure why,” Taehyung says, “It’s something that I keep singing because it reminds me of my childhood. It feels so long ago now.”
Jeongguk hums, nodding. “I understand. I don’t remember anything from my childhood up until I was sold to the witchers.”
“That’s… sort of sad, is it not?” Taehyung asks, sitting down at the table opposite him. “To not remember your parents at all.”
“I suppose I’d miss them if I remembered them. So I think it’s for the best that I don't. I had Namjoon growing up and I had… I had my friend who survived the witcher mutations,” Jeongguk says, “There were fourteen of us boys. Four of us survived the Trial of Grasses. The rest, well, they died. Brutally.”
“It’s scary to think about it, isn’t it? What if you didn’t make it?”
Jeongguk laughs, “Not really. At this point it has been so many years that I don’t even remember the pain I went through. It’s like a fleeting memory that sometimes passes through my head. It’s not something any of us think when we remember our childhood.”
Taehyung slides one hand on the table, palm upwards and Jeongguk takes it, “What do you remember then?”
“I remember… training, reading a lot of books. Namjoon giving us deadly looks when we snuck out because we wanted to do swordfighting instead of read up about myriapods. I miss them, my friends.”
Taehyung hums, drawing circles into Jeongguk’s scarred skin, “Where are they now?”
“Dead. I’m the last of my batch to live.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“What about your childhood?” Jeongguk asks, “Besides the song.”
“I grew up with my mother,” Taehyung says, “My father was never in the picture, he often worked in far-off places, only sending home the money we needed. I grew up in his big house which was not at all loved. My mother was the only one that I truly liked. When she got killed, I realized how fake people can be.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Jeongguk mutters.
“Oh, none of that. It’s been far too long for me to dwell on such things.”
They sit in silence before Taehyung smiles, “So, how about we do something more fun?” Without waiting for Jeongguk’s response, he stands up and flops into his lap. Jeongguk’s hands come up to hold Taehyung’s hips steady.
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to do but the last time you refused,” Taehyung leans forward and whispers in his ear. “And I’m getting a little impatient.”
Jeongguk laughs, wrapping his arms around Taehyung’s waist as he brings him closer until he’s sitting directly above his cock. He feels Taehyung grind down before pressing their lips together — Taehyung feels like an ice cave against his skin, cooling down his own heated body as they press together. They fit like puzzle pieces. Jeongguk is still in his armor and only realizes when Taehyung unclasps it at the back, sliding his shoulder pads off. They don’t break the kiss until Taehyung slides off his lap and pulls him towards the stairs.
He hears Taehyung giggle as they burst through the door to his room, falling straight onto the duvet. Jeongguk is on top, feeling every inch of Taehyung’s body pressing into him. Getting him out of his armor isn’t the easiest thing but Taehyung does it without any trouble — as if he’s done it before. As Jeongguk sits in front of him in long-sleeved cotton shirt and linen pants, Taehyung switches their position, straddling him yet again.
Jeongguk chases Taehyung’s lips and moves his kisses — the fleeting touch of his lips travels from his cheek and to his ear, where his teeth lightly nip on Taehyung’s ear. Without a warning, he flips them again, pressing Taehyung into the soft bed underneath him. Jeongguk continues his kisses down his neck, nipping on his skin which ellicits a breathy moan from the bard every now and then. With every sound he makes, Jeongguk gets harder — it’s easy to feel that it affects Taehyung too.
Sliding one hand under Taehyung’s shirt, he feels toned but somewhat still pudgy belly. With a feathery touch, he ghosts over one of the nipples, watching Taehyung’s face burn from his touch. He pushes his shirt upwards to expose his chest, taking one of the perky buds into his mouth.
“Are you sure about this?” Jeongguk asks as he looks up at Taehyung. Taehyung, pretty Taehyung is staring at him with hooded eyes and hair messy even though they haven’t done anything yet.
“I’ve been sure since I first saw you,” Taehyung mutters, pressing a kiss to his lips, “Are you sure?”
“Yes. More than.”
The kisses turn heated as they both remove their clothes — Taehyung pulls out some sort of oil from the nightstand which makes Jeongguk raise an eyebrow to which Taehyung simply shrugs.
For the first time in his life, Jeongguk wishes to be gentle — he opens up Taehyung with all the care he can muster, shushing praises into his skin and pressing kisses to his mouth as he takes his fingers. Taehyung is vocal, letting Jeongguk know he’s doing so well with each movement his fingers make.
One, two, three — Taehyung is borderline crying, begging for Jeongguk. When the witcher looks down he realizes that he’s happy that there’s not a faceless stranger below him but Taehyung. His Taehyung. Someone he thinks he would be glad to take on the path with him if only Taehyung will let him.
Jeongguk thinks Taehyung will say yes.
When he finally sinks into Taehyung’s heat, he feels peace — for the first time in his life, there’s nothing but the thought of Taehyung in his mind. Beautiful, stunning Taehyung moves so perfectly along with his thrusts, moans and grunts his name as his hair makes a halo around his face on the pillow under his head.
It doesn’t take long for them both to reach their end as Taehyung coats both of their stomachs in white sticky liquid and Jeongguk spills inside Taehyung.
With Taehyung’s arms wrapped around him, Jeongguk takes it as permission to lay down on his body, mindful of the fact that he doesn’t crush him. Taehyung buries his face in the crook of Jeongguk’s neck as they both breathe in deeply.
Even through the sweat, Jeongguk can still smell the scent of flowers and citruses. And thinks he’s content with what he has now. When he looks down at Taehyung’s face, he sees that boxy smile and wonders if waking up next to it would make his life complete.
It’s funny, how life turns around when meeting only one person.
When Jeongguk wakes up the next day, Taehyung is no longer in bed with him. He doesn’t let that stir him — he sees the sun slowly rising above the horizon as he climbs out from the duvet and gets dressed.
After a soft bath after their activities they fell asleep in each other’s arms, content and happy. But now, Jeongguk is putting on his armor and he has to get Bam from the nearby stables so he can go fetch Yoongi’s man.
“Good morning,” Taehyung says as Jeongguk walks down the stairs, “There’s bread and jam on the plate if you wish to eat it. I already ate.”
Jeongguk presses a kiss to Taehyung’s temple as a thank you, “Where are you going today?” he asks, watching as Jeongguk chews down his food.
“I’ll be escorting a man to safety. He’s been hiding somewhere north of Lucian’s Mill,” Jeongguk mutters, “Don’t want the killer to strike again.”
“Oh the murders? You think that man is going to be the next victim?”
“The killer has been targeting men of an underground empire under the man that calls himself the Cat. I know him as Min Yoongi. I’ve met him before and he promised me a lot of coin if I catch whatever — whoever is committing these atrocities,” Jeongguk explains. “I’ll have to go soon but thank you for breakfast.”
“Be careful, Jeongguk. I don’t want you getting hurt,” Taehyung says, placing one of his hands on Jeongguk’s chest. “Don’t die now that I’ve finally got you, alright?”
Jeongguk kisses Taehyung once more, lingering and extending a kiss for just a while longer, “I enjoyed last night.”
“So did I.”
A boxy smile is the last thing he sees before closing the door of Hope.
The journey to the woods north of Lucian’s Mill takes him approximately two hours on Bam’s back. He sees smoke rise up from above the trees — he rides there as fast as he can.
He thinks about Taehyung — how only a few months ago he wouldn't be able to imagine sharing a bed with someone he genuinely cares about. Jeongguk has always been a loner. Even in the early days of his life, Jeongguk doted on Namjoon more than his agemates. Although he was friends with all of them, he didn't feel a sense of belonging. Namjoon said it was natural, especially after something as taxing and painful as the Trial of Grasses.
He remembers the feeling of his body morphing in ways he hadn't deemed possible, he remembers the exact moment where he closed his eyes, pain spreading across his body like a parasite and upon opening them, his world was sharper. Louder. Brighter.
The smell that hit at his nose was awful, disgusting — only after Jeongguk did realize it was the smell of his friends who didn't survive. The accelerated decomposition of his agemates’ corpses that have suffered the trial and died a gruesome death.
Jeongguk knows he is part-monster. More monster than humans but less monster than actual non-sentient creatures that prey on innocent bystanders.
So to feel someone genuinely care for you, and somehow Jeongguk wants to believe it, no — he believes that Taehyung cares for him, it's a feeling that is unexplainable. Feels better than any amount of body pleasure does.
He decides to abandon the mystery about Taehyung. At the end of the day, Jeongguk shouldn't care what Taehyung is as long as he feels safe and sure in his presence. The witcher can only hope Taehyung feels the same.
And what reason would Taehyung have to lie to him anyway?
The trees are dense in the forest once he arrives. Almost dense enough that the sunlight doesn’t shine through them. He follows the smell of smoke and arrives at the river bank. In the distance he spots the man Yoongi asked him to help.
He looks just like any ordinary man, with light armor and a sword strapped to his hip. There's his horse, drinking water from the river.
Jeongguk isn't too late. That's good.
It doesn't make sense how the killer would know the man is here. How it knew where the men were when they were there.
As he was about to walk towards the man, the sound of the forest stops. The birds quieten, the crickets no longer producing the oh-so-familiar sounds.
And on top of it all, Jeongguk feels it. A tiny shake of his medallion, almost gentle — nearly contributing to it moving along with Jeongguk's body. But no, it wasn't. It moved.
It is still gently rattling against his chest. The man sees him but doesn't feel anything amiss.
Oh how to be as dense as humans.
At just that moment, he hears a growl — an unnatural, monster growl. He jumps down from Bam, shooing the horse away so he doesn't get hurt. Behind him he feels Yoongi’s man exclaim some profanities.
When he turns around towards the killer, he feels something unexplainable grip his heart.
The monster in front of him stands almost as tall as Jeongguk with a dark cloak thrown over its figure. All Jeongguk can see with the monster’s lowered head, are the sharp teeth that poke out of its mouth and the long unnatural fingers with even longer claws.
The killer is not only a monster, it is a sentient monster. Jeongguk doesn't usually participate in killing sentient beings but he doesn't think he's got much choice in his situation.
His first instinct looking at what's presented in front of him is that he's looking at a bruxa. A vampire somewhere in the middle on the spectrum of danger. There's a few key points that bother him at the revelations.
Bruxae normally take the shape of dark-haired attractive women who seduce their targets before killing them. The figure in front of him is very obviously a male.
It is not unheard of bruxae taking the shape of a man, but it is rarer than most think. With bruxae, the most important thing is to avoid their piercing scream. They love to use their voice to incapacitate their targets.
There are also alps and mula that could be what he's staring at, but nonetheless, it does not matter. He's going to kill it anyway.
Jeongguk's eyes fall to the creature’s feet. Apart from the torn boots and pants that have seen better days, one thing bewilders him. Under the rising sun, the creature doesn't possess a shadow.
“Why are you killing these men, vampire?”
His arm slowly reaches towards the silver sword strapped on his back but the vampire is quicker, more agile and when it’s claws reach him, he feels the sharp rip of his armor and the skin beneath it. The sharp claws pull out as quickly as they came, leaving droplets of blood flying everywhere, to the floor, on Jeongguk and even on its dark cape.
Groaning, Jeongguk reaches for it’s sword, ignoring the sharp pain in his chest as he moves out of the way when the vampire attacks again. It snarls at him, angry, annoyed but not once does it raise its head for Jeongguk to see its face.
Vampires are not only sentient, they are intelligent creatures, it would make sense for it to want to protect its identity. It could be that the creature is hiding from the sun but if it is a sentient vampire as Jeongguk thinks it is, it is immune to burning in the sun.
He can see short onyx hair sliding from underneath the hood when the monster attacks again, this time Jeongguk is ready as he slashes right when the vampire is about to attack, sending it tumbling down a tiny slope, towards the man who isn’t smart enough to simply run.
When the creature picks itself back up without a problem, Jeongguk realizes one painful thing. His heart almost stops as he comes to this realization. His silver sword doesn’t do any damage.
There's only one type of creature that Jeongguk knows of that is immune to silver.
Watching the monster as the monster watches him from under the hood, Jeongguk curses. The man he said he'd protect stands only a few meters away from the vampire and is still standing still.
He runs towards him but as if the moment played in slow motion, Jeongguk sees the vampire move with inhuman speed towards the man and watches as those long claws sink into the man’s stomach. He watches as intestines fall to the floor, his eyes full of pain and horror as he holds his bleeding wound.
“Why are you doing this?!” The vampire turns his head towards him but still keeping it turned towards the floor. The amount of power it must possess to fight without even looking at his target is incredible.
Jeongguk is about to swing his sword again when the lips he can see underneath the hood turn into a smirk as it disappears. It simply vanishes into thing air. If Jeongguk wasn't convinced of his theory before, he definitely is now. Cursing, Jeongguk swings his sword around just a few more times in case luck is on his side and he hits the invisible vampire. But when his sword feels nothing, he kneels to the man, hoping that Jeongguk isn’t going to be the vampires next target when his back is turned. He tries to put pressure on the wound, however, the wound is far too big for Jeongguk to save the man as he watches him bleed over the grass and into the water.
Letting out a loud groan, he feels like hitting something. Yoongi isn’t going to be happy about his man dying again. But at least he has more idea about what he’s dealing with.
Loading the man on the back of Bam, Jeongguk sets for the Novigrad port. When he throws the body at Min Yoongi’s feet, Min Yoongi doesn’t blink.
“I recall asking you to keep him alive,” he mutters as he watches the man’s blood stain his expensive carpet.
“Keep your money and your favors,” Jeongguk says, “You cannot win in this fight.”
Feeling the pain on his chest creep up on him, he hisses. His armor is ruined and he’s going to have to find a replacement soon. His skin has already begun healing but it’s going to be a while for it to fully heal.
“And why is that?”
“You’re dealing with a higher vampire,” Jeongguk says, “The only way to kill a higher vampire is to recruit another higher vampire and ask it to kill its buddy.”
It’s the first time Yoongi’s eyes go impossibly wide, “You are serious?” he asks, “Aren’t you supposed to be a monster hunter ? And are higher vampires not monsters?”
Jeongguk sighs, “One could argue higher vampires are more human than some humans.”
Yoongi shakes his head, “Get out.”
“Gladly.”
Jeongguk makes another stop at Jimin’s. Namjoon’s eyes narrow as he sees the gashes and wounds on Jeongguk’s chest. When he examines them closely, he shakes his head, “A vampire? In broad daylight?”
Before Jeongguk can answer, there’s a knock on the door. Nobody has to answer because Taehyung lets himself in before anyone has the chance to stand up. “Hey, Jimin, I found this in Hoseok’s collection, I was wondering if you…”
As Taehyung’s eyes find him, he goes still and runs towards him, the book in his hand falling to the floor. He kneels next to the sofa, inspecting the wounds. “Didn’t I tell you to be careful? What the fuck were you fighting?”
“A higher vampire,” Jeongguk replies, leaning back and watching as Taehyung takes a cloth and bowl of warm water from Jimin. He dabs it at the wound so gently, careful not to hurt the witcher further.
Unlike Namjoon and Jimin, whose eyes go wide, Taehyung doesn't react as if that phrase means nothing to him.
Namjoon shakes his head, “Are you sure it’s a higher vampire, Jeongguk? They haven’t been seen in decades!”
Jeongguk truly wishes to believe that whatever he fought was a lesser vampire but he’s not naive enough for it. In his life, he has never encountered a higher vampire — there are plenty of vampires to go around, with katakans and ekimmaras running around. He’d be glad to have found that instead of what he’s fought.
“If the fact that I slashed it with my silver sword and it didn’t even flinch wasn’t an indicator enough, it turned invisible right after killing the man,” Jeongguk mutters, hissing when Taehyung pressed a little too roughly against the wound. “I’m certain it’s a higher vampire.”
Namjoon sighs, “Are you sure you used your silver sword?”
If looks could kill, Namjoon would be dead. But it makes Taehyung smile so perhaps it's worth it.
“Yes, I’m sure. If the fact that silver didn't hurt him, maybe the fact that he didn't have a shadow will convince you. Oh, did I also mention he turned invisible?”
Namjoon doesn't say anything else.
Taehyung places his cold hand on Jeongguk's chest, a patch of skin where he's not hurt, “Calm down, if you get even more heated the blood starts pumping faster and you're going to start bleeding more.”
It works, Jeongguk calms down as he watches Taehyung clean his wound gently, his fingers brushing against his skin ever so lightly.
Jimin sighs, “I wonder how Min will deal with this.”
The next few days are uneventful, Taehyung and Jeongguk stay in Hope — Taehyung finally opens the doors again after hiring two beautiful ladies as his waitresses.
The flowers have also been replaced, now looking fresh and lively. Jeongguk rests his wounds for the first two days, orders that come from doctor Taehyung himself. He forbade him to move until his wounds heal.
Jeongguk has to admit that he likes seeing Taehyung taking care of him. It brings a warm feeling to his body, one that only amplifies when Taehyung kisses him.
On the third day, Jeongguk goes out, searching for new contracts on monsters. He's going to ignore the murders if they keep happening. He briefs Seokjin at the first opportunity he has and Seokjin sighs, “More work for me when new bodies pile in, I suppose.”
He kills some drowners, destroys a few nekker nests, gets paid, not a lot, but paid nonetheless.
With every new scratch and wound, Taehyung uses his medical knowledge to patch him up. He could do it himself but he just loves the care in Taehyung's eyes and the tender way he wraps his wounds in cloth to stop them from bleeding.
He sees glances that people give him when he walks past them, almost like they blame him for the murders. The whole city is in panic because the murders keep happening and Jeongguk doesn't want to help.
Going after a higher vampire is nothing but suicide. But he doesn't expect people to understand it.
After two weeks of what Jeongguk feels like domestic life with Taehyung, sometimes helping out with the tavern that is no longer as lively as before the Hoseok fiasco, a new presence walks in.
A man, dressed in a pure white suit and with a walking cane, steps towards the counter where Taehyung works. Jeongguk is in the kitchen preparing stew for dinner for the two of them.
“You're not welcome here, Min.”
Jeongguk has never heard Taehyung’s voice so poisonous, so willing to kill.
“I am not here for you, Kim. I’m here for your boyfriend,” Min Yoongi replies. “Do fetch him for me, please.”
Jeongguk can practically hear the roll of Taehyung's eyes as he obliges, coming through the kitchen door, and without having to say anything, Jeongguk presses a kiss to his cheek with a smile and walks past him.
He never even knew Taehyung and Yoongi knew each other, least of all that there's a shared history there of nothing short of loathing.
“You asked for me?”
“I need you to find me a vampire,” Yoongi says over the counter.
“I told you, I’m not going to go after…”
“I want you to find me a different vampire. You said only a vampire can kill another vampire. I need you to find me another vampire.”
Jeongguk swallows the need to correct him. There's plenty of vampires to choose from. Higher vampires on the other hand…
“Find me one, that's all I ask. I'll shower you both in so much gold you're never going to have to lift a finger in your life again.”
Min Yoongi is desperate. He can see the way he looks just a little bit older with his wrinkles forming on his forehead. His eyes seem lifeless, and he looks like he hasn't gotten any sleep in the past week.
“I cannot do that. Higher vampires are so rare. The fact that you have one after you is impressive in itself,” Jeongguk mutters, “Finding another would be like searching for a needle in a haystack but the haystack is as big as the ocean.”
Yoongi throws a pouch of coin on the counter, “Try.”
With that, he walks out of the tavern.
“What did he want?” Taehyung asks as soon as Yoongi leaves. His voice void of any kind of emotion.
Jeongguk turns to him and raises an eyebrow. “Didn't know you knew the Cat,” he says instead. He supposes the Cat must be a prominent figure in this city, if the money runs through him and if he controls the Novigrad underworld. But if Taehyung and Yoongi know each other then is it possible Yoongi has some dirt on Taehyung? Taehyung hasn’t lived in Novigrad for a while, Jeongguk remembers him mentioning a while back.
Taehyung groans, “I don’t know what happening in that brain of yours but it’s nothing like that. Min Yoongi and Hoseok dated for quite a long time before the Cat told him he no longer wants to see him, no reason at all. So no, I genuinely don't like the stupid asshole.”
That's a strange turn of events. Jeongguk wasn't sure Yoongi was capable of emotions other than deception and anger.
“He wanted me to find a new vampire,” Jeongguk says, “A different one. A higher vampire can only be killed by another higher vampire. And even then it is hard.”
“And are you going to do it?”
Jeongguk looks at the tavern that has about three men drinking beer in the corner of the room and a pouch of gold on the table. In the past week he's realized that the business isn't as good as it was before Hoseok was taken away as most of the guests were scared that the place is now cursed.
“We need the money,” Jeongguk says, “The tavern is not bringing in much and you need to eat. The last pouch I brought is almost empty.”
Taehyung pouts but doesn’t say anything. He looks like he’s in a deep thought. Jeongguk thinks about the offer — it’s true, finding a higher vampire would be a harder task than he’s had to face before but as long as Min Yoongi keeps paying him for it, he doesn’t see the harm in it.
Most higher vampires are human with some extra added powers and immortality. It’s been written that most higher vampires who acquire wealth give it back to the poor, opening up hospitals or orphanages. Blood isn’t an issue for them as they’ve grown past their thirst for it. It has been said that for higher vampires blood works more akin to alcohol than food.
“I don’t like it,” Taehyung finally says, “But you are right.”
Jeongguk exhales, kissing Taehyung’s forehead softly, “We’ll figure it out. If not we can just rob Yoongi and be done with it.”
There’s a tiny smile on Taehyung’s face, “Sounds like a plan.”
They are quiet for a while as Jeongguk wraps his arm around Taehyung’s waist and pulls him closer, letting him bury his face in the crook of his neck. Jeongguk feels his mind go numb and silent in moments like these, no need for quick thoughts and sharp turns.
“I know where we should start,” Taehyung mutters into his skin, “I remember the library had some books about vampirism a few years back when I was searching for the map of the Deireadh prison.”
So that’s where they start. As they walk through the city, Jeongguk realizes that the townsfolk are getting more anxious by the second. He hears whispers but most are just that. Whispers. He doesn’t hear anything concrete except curses spewed at him with an addition of insults thrown at Taehyung for hanging out with a witcher.
The fact that they had something to say about Taehyung too was almost enough to make him angry. Instead, Jeongguk exhales — it’s not their fault the townsfolk are uneducated and fear that which they don’t know or understand.
It makes his skin crawl but he cannot do anything about it.
“You should leave, you monster! The murders began when you came to this city!”
He feels something soft and wet land on his back. He doesn’t need to see to know it’s a ripe tomato. Did they have so much food they could just throw it around? Oh, to be that lucky.
Jeongguk shakes the tomato off before following Taehyung who’s holding the door open to the library. Taehyung gives him a look of pity but he says nothing, almost as if he’s out of words for it.
“Are you okay?” is all he says.
Nodding, Jeongguk moves further into the library. There’s a lot of dust covering the books, some so dirty as if they haven’t been picked up in centuries. He follows Taehyung to the place where he assumes the books about the vampires will be, of course, in the monster section. He’s not surprised to see a book about witchers being there too.
There’s at least a dozen books about vampires there. He takes up a copy of Immortal Creatures and starts flipping through the old, almost fragile pages. Taehyung takes a different book into his hand and does the same. They stay in there for a while.
Jeongguk combs through My Evening With a Vampire, a copy of Blood Wine and Garlic, Thousand Ways to Kill a Vampire, and Vampires: Everything You Need To Know before he sees it. It’s a tiny book, a shelf higher than Jeongguk would have liked. A cover so dark it could rival darkness itself. The red letters are stitched into it, and once Jeongguk gets it in his hand he realizes that the book is far heavier than he expected.
Vampiric Bloodlines, it says on the cover.
Jeongguk narrows his eyes as he opens it to the front page.
“.. . I am writing this book to make sure that whoever picks it up knows that vampires are among us. There’s all kinds of vampires…”
“…. I’ve seen them move, so gentle and so unnatural. Some are master manipulators, known to cast minor illusions on others’ minds to persuade them about something. It could be something small or something big…”
“… I lived with a family of higher vampires that from what I’ve gathered are descendants from a royal bloodline of Aedirn. I lived with them for a year. I had no idea whether they knew I knew what they were but they allowed me to live nonetheless. I’ve watched them move, and I documented everything in this book…”
“… there are plenty of vampiric bloodlines, especially if we focus on higher vampires. But let’s start at the beginning…”
“… higher vampires live a happy family life, usually the way you would assume humans live. Father is usually the breadwinner of the family but that does not mean the mother is any less powerful than him. These creatures have the ability to walk in sunlight, turn invisible, and they possess a bat form and a vampiric form along with their human form…”
“… mothers sing to their children. I’ve included a part of the song I could obtain by listening to Kim Hyewon singing to her child. I do not know whether this is a vampiric lullaby or whether the mother had made it up for her son…”
Jeongguk turns the page and out falls a piece of paper, words on it written in a poem — a cold feeling washes over him as he reads the words. He doesn’t need to move past the first three lines to recognize the words of the song Taehyung cannot stop singing. He turns to see where his lover is, only to find him sitting by the dusty table, head buried in a different book.
He doesn’t seem to notice the way Jeongguk’s eyes widen. Could it be? No, that’s impossible.
“… from what I understand there have been ten generations of royal Kim vampires, at least down this bloodline. I’m including a full family tree on the next page…”
True to the author’s word, the next three pages are dedicated to showing all of the names of the Kim vampiric family, steaming from the first king who was subjected to becoming a vampire down to the very last vampire born in the family.
Jeongguk sees a line between the names of Kim Hyewon and Kim Taeho leading down toward another name. This name, however, was smudged, as if someone spilled over something dark. Jeongguk didn’t need to smell it closer to know it’s blood. From the smudge, he can make out the surname Kim but the name is unrecognizable.
He looks over at Taehyung again, the pit in his stomach becoming bigger. Taehyung wouldn’t lie to him like that, would he? He watches him for a few seconds, trying to see whether there’s anything unusual about him. He notes that the lantern Taehyung is using as a light source casts a long shadow on the bookshelf behind him.
Taehyung has a shadow. That means he cannot be a higher vampire. Taehyung also doesn’t have two pointy canines peeking over his bottom lip like most vampires do. From what Jeongguk can remember they cannot hide those.
Exhaling deeply, Jeongguk lets himself calm down. He’s overreacting. He’s sure Taehyung would have told him by now if he were anything other than human, right?
Yes, yes he would.
Somehow, Jeongguk feels he’d be seriously sadangrydisappointed if Taehyung didn’t trust him enough to tell him.
A loud banging on the library door snaps them both out of their thoughts.
“Come out, witcher! We just want to talk to you.”
It’s a man’s voice that travels through and echoes against the library walls. Jeongguk sighs, knowing that when someone says they want to talk, they usually don’t want to talk.
“Stay here, Tae,” he presses a kiss to Taehyung’s lips, caressing his cheek as Taehyung grabs his arm, his eyes big and worried, pleading him to stay safe. As a reassurance, he kisses him one more time before he walks towards the heavy library door and opens it.
Jeongguk can’t say he is surprised when he is greeted by at least a hundred men carrying various equipment, from pitchforks to shovels to swords. In the distance, he even spots an archer whose hands shake so badly that Jeongguk doubts he’s going to hit any target.
“I thought you said you wanted to talk,” Jeongguk says, crossing his arms across his chest, “This doesn’t seem or feel like a conversation.”
“We want you to leave our city! You’ve been committing atrocities left and right since you came here!” the man who knocked on the door says, “You brought death with you and now we cannot sleep in peace because we wonder who you’re going to kill next!”
Jeongguk narrows his eyes, “I don’t recall killing anyone apart from drowners and nekkers around here. The murders were not committed by me.”
He’s aware that people will think whatever they want and they will not listen to a word he’s saying. Not that he has proof he hasn’t been committing these murders. He could argue it was a monster but in the eyes of the common folk, he is the monster.
“We want you out or else we’re going to end you ourselves!”
Do people have any self-preservation nowadays?
One of the men on the frontline swings his sword and Jeongguk, instead of dodging, casts aard at him that sends him flying back into a crowd of people, crushing several of them.
“He attacked us unprovoked!”
“He deserves death!”
“Get him!”
Groaning Jeongguk pulls out his sword. Some folks stop and move away, others are even more ready to kill him. And so it continues. Some people flee away from the scene which is at least half of them — the rest attack him from all sides, almost to the point where he’s being torn apart from all the grabbing and pulling. Without thinking, he slams his fist to the floor, using a stronger aard to blast everyone around him away.
But men and women keep coming, he slashes through them and it’s easier than he guards at the prison because these are normal people, not trained in fighting. They find with force and without any finese. He’s getting an eerie feeling he won’t be able to step into Novigrad again for at least a hundred years after this.
The amount throwing themselves at him eventually decreases, with only a few stragglers left that still have some fight in them. From the corner of his eye, Jeongguk notices Taehyung come out of the library, trying to figure out what a commotion is when he’s pulled away by a brute who swings his sword in his direction.
He dodges and slides under the brute’s open legs — he swings his sword at the same time, ripping the man’s pants and everything that comes along with it. The man buckles to the floor, holding his now significantly smaller dick in his hand.
Jeongguk’s attention is back at Taehyung and he exhales when he sees that although the square is littered with bodies, it is finally done. Now he can only wait until the authorities come to clean everything up.
If there are three things, Jeongguk knows to apply to Taehyung, it would be these:
One, he's a doctor. He's saved Jeongguk's life more times than the witcher is prepared to admit. Two, he has never seen him go anywhere without that darned lute.
And three, he's reckless.
So why does it come as a shock, complete and utter shock when Taehyung throws himself in front of Jeongguk to save him from an attack?
Jeongguk has never considered himself a particularly caring person, not by a long shot — the witcher mutations haven't completely erased his emotions but they definitely dulled them and Jeongguk doesn't remember when he last cared about something. Anything.
Not until now, that is.
Taehyung's eyes look as bright as ever, even with a sword sitting in between his ribs, and he looks— he looks like himself, even with the sad smile playing on his lips.
"Hi, Jeonggukie."
There's blood that gushes from his mouth. Jeongguk swallows, and before he knows it, he swings the sword in Taehyung's direction, missing him and hitting the man behind him with force strong enough to cleanly decapitate the man's head.
An angry shout. He grabs Taehyung who is stumbling aimlessly, still grasping the weight of the situation.
Taehyung's body has always been light, but there is an unimaginable lightness that Jeongguk feels for the first time.
"Jeonggukkie," Taehyung mutters, swallowing hard. "Remember when you refused to admit you care about me? Well, look at you now."
"Shut up, don't move," Jeongguk mutters, pressing down on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, if only just a bit. "Talking will only make it worse."
Taehyung is in his arms. He's going to be okay. He has to be okay.
With his eyes as glassy as the morning rain, Taehyung places a hand on Jeongguk's shoulder, leaning his head on top of his shoulder, with a soft kiss pressed on the witcher's neck.
"Thank you for being my friend and lover, Jeonggukie."
“What the hell are you talking about,” Jeongguk mutters, there’s panic rising in his throat as he watches Taehyung spit out more blood, slowly lowering to the floor. His skin is already naturally cold but now, it feels freezing as Jeongguk holds him in his arms. There’s blood on the floor, soaking both of their clothes but neither of them cares, “You’re going to be okay, do you understand me?”
A hand comes up to caress his cheek, Taehyung’s bloody palm dirtying Jeongguk’s face. He feels tears coming, he hasn’t felt like he wanted to cry since the Trial of Grasses. What the hell is going on, this wasn’t supposed to be happening.
Taehyung is supposed to be alive, they are supposed to walk the Path together. They are supposed to care for Hope together. They haven't robbed Yoongi yet.
“You’re very pretty when you cry,” Taehyung says, his thumb wiping off a tear that slides down his cheek. “Don’t cry for me, Jeonggukkie.”
The witcher sees that Taehyung is getting weaker with every word he says, watching his lover cough up more blood. He shakes his head, his hands numb, not understanding the situation or knowing what to do. He just knows that Taehyung is leaving him.
“I think I love you, Jeongguk,” Taehyung mutters, his eyes tired and closing, “Thank you for giving me that.”
Jeongguk presses his head into Taehyung’s blood-soaked clothes as he cries. He doesn't hear his heartbeat in his chest and he feels shock. Pain and utter shock.
Taehyung’s eyes are closed, his limbs unmoving and his skin so pale he could say he’s looking at a ghost. The blood is still flowing steadily out of the wound where Jeongguk is still pressing on it. His bottom lip wobbles as he lets out a pained cry, burying his head into Taehyung’s chest yet again.
He sits there for a while, ignoring the sounds of people coming out of hiding and whispering among themselves. Jeongguk just stays there, feeling the need to memorize everything about Taehyung, everything about his lover that he lost prematurely.
“Did you know I took acting classes too?”
Jeongguk freezes with his heartbeat in his ears. As he looks up, Taehyung is watching him with wide eyes as Jeongguk is trying to make sense of the situation, “What…”
“Yeah, I was bored and decided to pursue acting for a while. It didn’t work out, most people thought I was shit but it appears I’m better than people give me credit for,” Taehyung says, shrugging. Jeongguk snaps away from him as if he got electrocuted and watches as Taehyung pulls out the sword from his chest. “Not going to say it didn’t hurt, but I should be fine in about fifteen minutes.”
The shock and sadness turn into anger. Blazing, uncontrollable anger.
Taehyung seems to notice it, too.
“You…” Jeongguk snarls, his yellow eyes wide with rage as he pulls out his silver sword from his back. He’s lost his steel one somewhere but he doesn’t care. He’s so angry he could kill an entire city. “You lied to me.”
“I did, I admit, but when I could, I only omitted the truth,” Taehyung shrugs as if it wasn’t a big deal for him at all. Jeongguk attacks first, Taehyung gracefully dodging it as if he were dancing instead of avoiding being hit. “But I also thought you had figured it out, I saw you reading the Vampiric Bloodlines book.”
Jeongguk strikes again, his moves uncoordinated and brutal, just wanting to hit something. Taehyung continues to avoid them, with inhuman speed and elegance Jeongguk has never seen before.
“You had a fucking shadow,” Jeongguk growled as he swung his silver sword forward, this time hurting Taehyung with the tip of it. He stops for a second, worry evident on his face before Taehyung simply smiles.
“You do know silver does nothing to me, right?” Taehyung asked, “As for the shadow, yeah, I’m sorry about that.”
He comes closer, trusting that Jeongguk isn’t going to behead him — not that it would kill him, it would just take him a year to grow it back — before he places two fingers on his eyelids. When Jeongguk opens his eyes and looks down, he realizes that in the scorching sun of midday, Taehyung genuinely does not have a shadow. And there are two little fangs peeking over his bottom lip.
“Vampiric illusion,” Taehyung explains, “I am sorry about that, I thought I had stopped doing it long ago. But I’ve been pretending to be a bard for decades, it comes as a natural thing to me when in human form.”
Jeongguk drops his sword to the floor with a clank and pushes forward, hugging Taehyung tightly against his body. Taehyung also seems to relax and hugs him back.
“You’re a fucking asshole.”
Jeongguk knows he’s not going to forgive Taehyung so soon for the shit he pulled but he also knows they have eternity on their side. He’s still so fucking pissed at him. When they arrive at Hope, they both take a long bath in each other’s embrace before Jeongguk wraps a bandage around Taehyung’s chest where he’s still bleeding.
“Why are you attacking Yoongi?” Jeongguk asks, “Because of Hoseok?”
“Petty revenge,” Taehyung admits, “My ‘project’ Hoseok said I should abandon. Seeing as we are going to be kicked out of Novigrad, I may as well stop. But it was interesting seeing him throwing temper tantrums in his office every time I snuck in to see it.”
“Forgot you can turn invisible.”
“Oh yeah, one of my many talents.”
“And the wraith?”
“She was the mother of this man I once crossed paths with. He tried to kidnap me and sell me somewhere because he said I was pretty, I don’t know, I didn’t pay much attention, so I killed him. She became revengeful and I killed her as well. That’s why she went after me and not you, she truly wanted her revenge. I simply just killed her again.”
Taehyung leans back in the bath, leaning his back on Jeongguk’s, pressing a soft kiss to his jaw. “I’m sorry I tricked you into thinking I was dead, Jeonggukkie. Frankly, I didn’t think it would affect you this much. I still had a feeling you were with me more for sex than romantic attachments.”
Jeongguk huffs, “You couldn’t have been more wrong.”
“I see that now, and I am genuinely sorry.”
Not saying anything for a while, Jeongguk finally speaks up again, “When you said you loved me, did you speak the truth?”
Bright brown eyes stare at him — Jeongguk would be intimidated if he didn’t know they belonged to Taehyung. “I meant it. With all my heart.”
“Good,” Jeongguk kisses him.
“What about you? Do you love me?” Taehyung asks, almost timidly.
“I don’t think you deserve to hear those words from me yet. Not after what you’ve just pulled. Maybe in a few years.”
“Hey!”
“Enjoy the bath while we can.”
The next day they were kicked out of Novigrad.
But that's alright, Jeongguk tells himself.
Home is where the right people are and he thinks he could made his home where Taehyung is.