[serial] Blood: "Dracula's Daughter, Part IV"

“Dracula’s Daughter, Part IV”



Although she despises him, this Krystal will admit: Baekhyun loves Tao, wholly, ardently, to the point of madness. It was a most violent and overpowering ardor, nothing like the calm waters that Kris and Tao waded through, full of reason and tenderness. For the brown eyed boy, it was something else—something archaic, beyond logic and explanation.

“The love of flesh for opposing flesh,” Tiffany once remarked. “Love is of the heart, of the mind, of the soul. What they have…it’s biological, and you can’t reason out of that.”

It was insanity from the beginning, from the moment Baekhyun laid his eyes on the dark haired immortal. Something seemed to have sparked inside of him, and Krystal, even then, had been able to see that something had awakened inside of Tao as well. He was suddenly alive, given new life. In the presence of the human boy, he seemed to return to himself. His eyes were smiling again. At first, she was happy—grateful that the new friend she had made was helping her deeply troubled teacher and parent. She loved Tao and she only ever wanted him to be happy. It wasn’t even an issue when Tao took him as a companion (it wasn’t uncommon for vampires), and Kris did not seem to mind either. (Though it was not like the older could say no to his young lover, either.)

But as time progressed, as they became more and more symbiotic and parasitic to each other’s being, Krystal began to realize that Baekhyun wasn’t what he seemed. Although he was perfectly cordial and friendly to both herself and her master, he didn’t care about their family—Tao was always his only sole obsession. And it wasn’t till things were much too late that she realized what he was after all along.

It had been a particularly arctic winter in St. Petersburg, and the season seemed to act as a precursor to the events that would unfold. The air was made of ice, and as sharp and wicked as the edge of a longsword. Kris had been attending matters on behalf of the Vampire King of Shanghai, a dear old friend of his, and thus was often at the court of the Vampire Queen Ekaterina. This, of course, left Baekhyun and Tao very much in their own company and with Krystal all too consumed by snow and the air of Christmas, no one foresaw the carnage that would play out.

Everything began with a parable told by a charlatan: that if a vampire should drink from the blood of a mortal who had tasted from the Cup of Eden, there was an absolution from the Dark Gift—that one could be restored to their human form. It was a story long told in their Scripture, but it was knowledge to the Old Ones that this was false. (Luhan had told them so.) To this day, Krystal is uncertain who spun this lie to Tao, but he became obsessed with the idea of it. It consumed him like a black hole, ripping and tearing at his sanity. He had not told either herself or Kris of what he had learned or what he had planned—she is certain that had he told them, they would have did everything to detour him otherwise. He had only confided in Baekhyun, and as she would eventually discover, it was he who had been the one to encourage Tao onto this frivolous path of madness.

Everything had happened quite suddenly.

Krystal had been walking in the streets, her sparkling new Parisian shoes clicking against the stone pavement, the night air pleasantly sweet. She had been costumed in thick furs, feeling especially light and cheerful. The darkness was ignited by street lamps, and the soft rain of snowflakes was like a cascade of sugar. It was serene.

So she wasn’t at all prepared when the call of her maker came to her, hitting her like a thousand bricks—it was a crushing feeling. Kris was reaching out to her from afar, seeking her attention, and the force of it made her weak in the knees. She collapsed onto the ground, head lifting northward, and she could hear his voice whispering in a long echo Tao. She turned, speeding towards him, heading to a theatre of carnage: Ekaterina’s castle.

When Krystal arrived in a flash, she finds the court torn in disarray, ignited in flames and remnants of silver. The ground was covered with the sickening carcasses of vampires. The red blood was laced across the alabaster snow like tangled spider webs. She felt ill and scared and she only thought of Tao and her sire. She called for Kris, finding him quickly beneath the rubble. A large fallen piece of concrete was covering his body, and she effortlessly throws it off him. She gasped at how badly damaged he was, stained with dangerously cut marks, the work of silver, his skin scalded and burned.

“What happened!?” she said, her voice filled with panic. She brought her wrist to her mouth, tearing the skin and drawing a crimson elixir. She lifted it to her master’s lips, watching as he carefully lapped up the scarlet liqueur. “I heard your call—you said—you said Tao’s name. Where is he?”

“Be careful—he’s turned,” her maker spoke weakly.

“Who—?”

Krystal isn’t able to finish as her body was flung across the court like a straw doll. She crashed against stone and she falls limply to the floor in a heap. She looked up to see Baekhyun, eyes with an unnatural golden glow, skin as pale as the snow around him. There was a hideous smile on his face, the image of pure glory and bloodlust—it was the kind portrait of a most docile killer. He stood before Kris, looking down at him a triumphant hunter would at his prey; Krystal was too weak, her body feeling exhausted from giving her maker her blood. And she knew he was in no condition to fight.

Baekhyun bent down and with amazing ease and grace, grabbed Kris by the throat and lifted him up above him.

“It’s a mess, I know,” he said, gesturing around him. “But they were in the way. In the end, though, it was just a bunch of lies. But I had to help him, even if it was in vain,” he spoke carefully, his voice hinted with grief and glee. “He’s hurt, you know? He thinks about you, and all he can wonder is about eternity and belonging to you and it hurts him. I can’t bear to see him like that. I cannot, and so I did it. To free him. You wouldn’t have, though. You wouldn’t understand what it is he needs. How could you? How could you grasp his pain?”

Kris did not answer. Krystal did not understand.

Baekhyun smiled at him sadly. “It’s so strange, now that I’m like you, hyungnim. I’m his now, and he’s mine. I can feel it. I can feel all of it.”

Krystal could see her sire struggle. She could see the grip upon his throat. Silver was deeply imbedded in him, and he could not heal. She had to get up.

Get up, she screamed at herself. Get up, Soojung or he’s going to die!

With much struggle, Krystal lifted herself from the concrete ground. She hissed, flashing her fangs as she gunned for the newly made vampire. Baekhyun was distracted; he did not see her coming. She tore Kris from his hands, laying him down gently before she strikes Baekhyun. They struggle like a chaotic hurricane. She’s older, stronger, and she overpowers him easily, even in her state. There was Kris’ blood within in her, after all. Baekhyun was strong, but she tossed him around like rage doll. She bbroke him in every way she knew how until he is a bloody, ruined mess on the ground.

Krystal heaves an onerous breath, Baekhyun’s head held tightly in her hand. “How dare you touch him,” she snarled. But before she could do her act of vengeance and crush him between her fingers, a true force of nature hurled her away, and she has just enough wits about her that she lands on her feet like a graceful feline. When she looked up, Krystal’s hazel eyes widen in shock to see Tao holding Baekhyun gingerly in his arms, cradling his head.

“Tao—what? Why?”

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, and his words come out as a plea. He looked at the fledgling in his arms sadly. “It was my fault. All my fault.” Tao turned to Kris, lying still against the concrete stone. “I had to do this. We’re wrong. We’re so wrong. We’re not gods. No one should get to live forever. It hurts much too much. All this time. All this life. I wanted to be human again. I wanted—I wanted to be with Baekhyun, as a human, to live, to die.”

Kris looked at him sadly, but says nothing. Instead, he let Krystal speak for him.

“Why? Why did you do all of this?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“I wanted to be free,” he answered.

“From us?” she says, red tears trailing down her alabaster cheeks and hitting the pale snow.

“From what we are,” Tao said, eyes never leaving the Romanesque vampire. “You would never have understood. You are—you’re Liyin’s child. You were made to last forever. How could you ever understand how wrong we are? I was never given a choice. She chose for me. You chose for me. I never wanted this. I never wanted forever, not even with you.”

Tao sighed. “I can feel them. They’re coming now. They must have sensed things.”

“What do we do?” Baekhyun asked, voice weak. “They’re coming for us. They’re not going to kill us.”

“Fate worse than the True Death. That’s the punishment. That’s how she made it,” he answered mournfully. He peered back at his former companions, eyes sad. “I’m so sorry.”

“We need to go,” Baekhyun emphasized. “We need to go now.”

“But—”

He lifted his hand and gestured and suddenly everything was on fire.

Krystal screamed after them through the flames, but it was too late.

They were gone.





Chanyeol sits, eyes wide with tears as the dark haired girl finishes her story.

“Kris was badly wounded from that assault; we barely made it out alive. I had no way of healing him, I was too young, and I wasn’t strong enough. We had to plead to the Queen of Seoul, and that’s how he became Marshal. He serves her not out of loyalty but because he owes her his life, and that’s why we’ve been here for so long. Otherwise, he would have spent all this time looking for Tao.”

She peers at the boy carefully. He bites his bottom lip, gently chewing at it. She could feel his anxiety. Chanyeol’s mind was abuzz with questions and she tastes them on her tongue like droplets of snowflakes.

“Victoria said…” He gulps. “She said that she stopped the order for—for the True Death.”

Krystal nods. “Yeah. The Authority had put out a mandate that they were to be hunted and killed. She worked her magic, though, Victoria. Said it was just insanity on the part of those two, trying to do something ridiculous. She charmed them, so nobody ended up doing anything. I know she doesn’t love Tao, but I think she still feels responsible for his well-being because she’s still his maker. And that’s why for the past century or so, they’ve been in the wild, trying to escape from the remaining vampires of Ekaterina’s court. No one knew what they were up to during all this time.”

“But…why did Tao turn Baekhyun? If he—if he hated being what he was so much, why did he make Baekhyun like him?”

She chews on her bottom lip. “I don’t know. I think he did it out of necessity, because whatever it is that they tried to do at Ekaterina’s castle, they failed, and Baekhyun was dying, and Tao must have made him out of panic.” She smiles sadly. “He was never good at being alone. Tao needs people. We could never be what he wanted us to be, but Baekhyun was. He couldn’t lose him, or else he’d have no one. He encouraged Tao with his ideas, his plans. He wanted Tao to leave us. He got what he wanted. Tao chose him.”

Krystal closes her eyes. The memories are a raw scar, burnt, cut, branded into her skin. Tao’s eyes inside the fire, full of sorrow and regret and relief. She often wonders how things would have changed had she not invited Baekhyun into their lives. Maybe they would all have stayed together. Or maybe Tao would have finally gone mad.

When she opens her chocolate orbs, she finds Chanyeol missing from his seat. She blinks in surprise, sensing his movement upstairs. She frowns and follows him, gently galloping behind the taller boy as he darts upward.

“Oh crap,” Krystal bemoans as she realizes his direction, stumbling after him clumsily. “Wait, Chanyeol! This isn’t a good time!”

But it was too late. The boy slams open Kris’ office door and barges in. Krystal cringes as she goes after him. She finds her master at his desk, looking over papers with Tiffany. He frowns at them while his associate raises an eyebrow, long red hair swaying carelessly.

Krystal grins weakly at them as she grabs Chanyeol’s arm. “Sorry, you’re busy, we’ll be going now!” she chirps as she tries to drag the boy away.

“Do you love him?”

Ah fuck, Krystal thinks as the words jump out of Chanyeol’s mouth. This wasn’t going to end well.

Kris blinks but remains silent. Krystal looks at the boy. His eyes were welled deep with silvery tears, his pink mouth trembling, and that’s when she notices how much he was shaking. He looked as if he was going to collapse.

“Do you love him?” the auburn haired teen repeats.

Kris sighs as he stands, shooting his fledgling a frustrated look as he approaches the boy. “Chanyeol, can we talk about this later, I—”

“You do, don’t you,” he states plainly as he moves away from the older man, causing Kris to halt in his step. Chanyeol’s normally vividly expressive eyes suddenly fall dull and still, like diamonds turning into stone. A rock drops in Krystal’s stomach; she could feel the emotions radiating off the boy. “You do, despite what happened, and that’s why you’re going to save him. Even though—even though it’ll kill you.”

“Who told you that?” Kris speaks.

“Yoona—she said that you’d die if you saved Tao.”

Kris frowns and exhales. “Well, she’s mistaken.”

The words sounds so assured that for a moment both Krystal and Chanyeol believe them.

The boy peers at his lover, warm eyes swimming in a bitter sea. He turns, however, to Tiffany. “What is it that he’s going to do?”

“He’s going to give Tao his blood,” Tiffany answers easily, eyeing the taller man beside her. Kris’ mouth thins dangerously. “If what Baekhyun says is true and Tao is really that sick and dying, then the only thing that will heal him is the blood of another immortal, someone with the blood of Eden flowing through them. Someone like Victoria. Someone like Kris. But it’s not about a drop. Tao will have to drain him dry.”

“Dry…?” he murmurs. “Like…”

“Like on the verge of death. Only death cures death. Life comes from death for us. Always has, always will,” Tiffany answers. “It’s not something we’re made to survive. We never do it for a reason. We're creatures of death. There is very little life in us to give.” She turns to her compatriot for a moment. “Luhan taught me that.”

The blonde haired immortal flinches at her words. “Changmin did,” Kris spits out. “He survived. He gave his life for Taeyeon, and he survived.”

“That was a fluke—if she had not been there, he would be dead, and you know it. I doubt your sire will grace us with her presence considering how incredibly pissed off she's been at you for the past thousand years,” Tiffany hisses at him, arms crossed. She leans in close. “I will not inform her majesty about this. My hope is that you will think clearly and come to your senses. If you actually plan on doing this…you know it won’t end well.” Her eyes dart to the auburn haired boy; Kris follows suit, dark orbs softening at the image of Chanyeol, face pink and pale with emotion, tears staining his cheeks. “For anybody.”

Tiffany turns and departs, leaving master, sire and the boy on their own.

Krystal stands still as a board, peering anxiously at the auburn haired teen and her master. Chanyeol’s eyes were like the glassy jewels of a precious French Bebe doll. Kris is an immaculate Grecian statue, hard and cold as marble. The distance between them must have only been a meter at best, but for Krystal standing on the sidelines, that same gap seemed insurmountable, like the vast cavern of the Grand Canyon. Slowly, however, Chanyeol tugs his arm from her grip and steps forward. He and Kris are nearly the same height, standing almost eye to eye. His bright orbs never depart from the immortal’s calm visage, but the older man will not look at him.

With a wavering hand, the boy reaches forward, his slender fingers gripping gently the edges of Kris’ black blazer.

“Do you love him? Is that why you are doing this, hyung?”

“It’s not—”

A frown graces the boy’s brows. “If it’s not that, if it’s not love, then why are you doing this?”

“Because it’s my fault that he’s like this,” Kris admits shamefully, a dark edge in his voice. “It’s my fault that—that he was turned in the first place.”

Krystal blinks in surprise and perplexity, but Chanyeol speaks the words she was thinking, “What do you mean it’s your fault?”

“Victoria made him,” he explains. “That part…that part’s all true. She gave him her blood and she made him. But she made him for me. She made him against his will. That’s why there’s no love between them, because she did not want him, and he did not crave the dark gift as you did, Krystal, or Yoona and Yixing. You may not have thought of it, but in your hearts, I could tell you wished it more than anything, and I knew I was meant to be your sire. As my master knew when she made me. But Tao…he was a mistake. A selfishness on my part, and a kindness on Victoria’s.”

“Why did she make him, then, if she didn’t want him?” Krystal blurts out carelessly. Kris grimaces and her eyes widen in understanding. “Because you wanted him…you loved him, and you couldn’t do it, and so she made him for you. That’s why—that’s why Tao said what he said in Russia—that he didn’t want to be made. That he didn’t get to choose. I never understood why he wanted to be human again so much…but it’s because he didn’t have that choice. He never got to choose.”

“I didn’t give him that choice,” Kris spits out rather furiously. “I pushed this on him.”

“You don’t owe him anything! He tried to kill you!” Chanyeol screams furiously. Krystal jumps in surprise at the anger in his tenor voice. “What about me? Do you not care? Do you not—” He pauses. Krystal could see him struggle with the words. “I won’t let you do this.”

“Chanyeol—”

“No,” says the boy firmly, and Krystal is surprised by the strength and conviction in his voice. “They tried to kill you. You almost died. Whatever it is that you owed him, you don’t anymore. Stop thinking you’re responsible for him. There are other people who need you…” He licks his lips. “I need you.”

Kris’ dark eyes soften at the quiver in Chanyeol’s voice and suddenly he seemed so young and vulnerable. His strong hand reaches up to touch his cheek, and the auburn haired teen smiles at the contact.

“I’m sorry,” the immortal says, voice low and defeated. Chanyeol’s eyes widen; the pooled tears in his chocolate orbs spill downward against his porcelain skin like raindrops. “But this is something I have to do. And nothing anyone says is going to change that.” He leans inward, pressing his lips against his lover’s eyes, tasting of bitterness and grief. He squeezes the boy’s hand gently before he departs.

It is only when Kris was gone that Krystal notices the heavy breathes that shivered out of Chanyeol’s heart like a hurricane. He collapses to the ground as the distant footsteps of the blonde haired man fade into static. He was shaking, his arms clinging onto himself as he sobbed.

Krystal felt helpless. She felt useless.

And for the first time in a long time, as she heard the soft cries of the auburn haired boy, she felt powerless.





Park Chanyeol had come into Krystal’s world rather spontaneously three months ago. He was only a boy of seventeen, barely done with high school, when he and Kris met. As Yoona tells it rather scandalously to anyone who cares to listen, “He met Kris at Club Alucard, and pretty much seduced him. Oh my god, it was amazing. I don’t even know how to describe it. It was like porn, except everybody had their clothes on and it was three times hotter. That kid is something.”

It was quite normal for their kind to seduce humans, but the other way around was almost unheard of, which made Chanyeol and Kris’ meeting so much more interesting. Krystal has been with Kris for hundreds of years now, and she had seen plenty of people, men and women, throw themselves at him. He’d hardly ever taken an interest in any of them, especially after the disaster with Tao. But then Chanyeol came around with his fair skin and bright hazel eyes and pink mouth and long legs and it was over—he seemed to have conquered Kris like a blitzkrieg. And this, in turn, made the auburn haired youth all the more special and all the more unique.

Chanyeol did not come back to Moon Manor for three days after that day. Krystal was worried; she didn’t know what he was thinking. She would have gone to ask him (or intrude on his mind like a thief) had it not been for the constant bickering between Yoona and Kris. It was mostly the exuberantly loud voice of the former, with her master sitting silently listening (or not listening), but the dark haired girl was a persistent one. She refused to leave it alone.

“He’s going to command it one of these days, you know. He’s going to say: as your maker, I command you to leave it alone, and then you’re not going to be able to say anything,” Krystal remarks to her fledging sister as she poured over the books in the library—all vampire scripts collected in old Latin and various Slavic tongues. Sitting on a red sofa, she looks at the taller girl curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to find something that will help us. Yixing knows a witch. I will fucking bind him if I have to,” she seethes, eyes flashing. “Why are you not more concerned!? You’re just sitting there!”

Krystal sighs and rolls her eyes. “This is Kris we’re talking about here. After what happened with Chanyeol, I don’t think anyone can change his mind. He’s incredibly stubborn. Once he’s put into motion one of his plans, he won’t stop. Not for anything. I think he’s really serious about this Tao thing, too. I think he really feels guilty. It’s not like him.”

“Then what do you suppose we do?” Yoona says as she collapses onto the sofa beside Krystal. “We can’t possibly let him go through with this.

“Honestly, if Chanyeol can’t change this mind, I don’t know what else we’re supposed to do,” she replies as she rests her head in her hands.

As the sisters sit in despondent silence, pondering over their maker, Yixing comes sprinting into the library, gasping for air as he stands before the raven haired maidens. “Oh my god, have I got news for you guys!” he almost shrieks.

“Keep your voice down, babe, you sound like a parrot,” Yoona remarks. “What is it?”

“Okay, so you know how it’s really fucking weird that Victoria is back?”

“Yes, as you keep saying,” Krystal rolls her eyes as she looks at the taller man.

“Well, I was…um…just innocently sitting by myself in the kitchen when I overheard Myungsoo talking with Yunho,” he says.

“You mean you were snooping,” his fledgling sister grins playfully.

“No! I wasn’t snooping…I just…” He stops, trying to find the right words. “I was just there.”

“Sure.”

“Will you let me finish?” Yixing barks, arms cross irritably.

“Yes, yes, sweetie, go ahead,” Yoona coos encouragingly. “You finish your story.”

Yixing beams at her. “Thank you. Anyways, I always thought it was weird, considering her and Tao aren’t close, of why she was back here and talking to Kris about him and basically being, you know, helpful. That’s not her MO. Victoria always has five billion cards up her sleeve and she’s always hiding something. But it was Myungsoo that really confirmed things for me. Guess what he said?” He grins, expecting them to actually guess, and when both ignore him, he continues. “Myungsoo said that he doesn’t understand why Victoria would trust Kai after what happened.”

The eyes of the sisters widen in shock. “Wait, what!?” Krystal shrieks. “Kai? Kai? Did I just hear you right?”

“Oh my god, then…then that means…” Yoona murmurs. “That means if she’s trusting Kai…then Victoria—”

“Must be here about Luhan,” Yixing finishes with a triumphant grin, his fist shaking proudly at his discovery. “I knew it was weird she was back here!”

“But wait, how does any of that make sense?” Krystal says, eyes skewed in confusion. “I mean, the only reason Victoria didn’t kill Kai was because Luhan begged her not to. Why would she even communicate with him in the first place?”

The dark haired man shrugs. “I don’t know. All I know is what Myungsoo said, and Myungsoo said she trusts him about something.”

Krystal groans, clutching her head in her hands. This was so complicated and frustrating and out of her league. It was like the entire atmosphere of the house had been turned on its axis. Without Chanyeol around, there was a sudden chill in the air, and the presence of Victoria and her harem did not alleviate the stress clawing at Krystal’s insides. She wanted him back, but she knew the last thing the boy needed and wanted to see would be Kris. She respected and cared for him enough that she did not want him to go through such pain.

But the tension and fear was driving her to madness. She would pace outside her sire’s office door, trying to muster the right words to speak with him, but she always loses her nerve at the last minute. She felt trapped. She felt helpless and weak, and it was a feeling that festered in her stomach like cockroaches, eating away at her bit by bit. She wanted to crawl on her hands and knees and beg him to talk to the boy. She wanted to scream at Kris. She wanted to ask him why he was doing this, why he was hurting someone he loved so much. And Krystal knew he loved Chanyeol—she could feel it.

The ugly hole inside of her heart seemed to echo so loud she could barely hear anything else.

Krystal felt the tears burn beneath her eyelids. She wished she knew what to do.

“I’m not going to ask Amber to bind him! That's the most ridiculous thing you've ever said!” The shrilled shriek of Yixing’s voice brings the dark haired girl out of her thoughts. She looks up to see the pair arguing back and forth like an old married couple. “And I don’t think she can bind him! And it’s not like he’s gonna give you a chance anyway. You know he’s just going to command you and then you’ll be kicking yourself.”

“Well aren’t you supportive,” Yoona bites back, arms crossed. “So you’re just prepared to let him basically meet the True Death.”

“No, but there are better ways to deal with this situation than to ask a teenage witch to bind a fucking two thousand year old vampire!” Yixing half-screams in frustration.

“Um…guys?”

At the sound of Suho’s voice, the three fledglings turn towards the door. The red haired immortal has a nervous look on his face.

“What is it? Can’t you see we’re deal with a crisis?” Yoona screeches.

“Don’t be rude, he’s just trying to ask us something,” Yixing admonishes.

“We’ll we are kind of in a crisis! Excuse me for having emotions!”

Krystal groans and rubs her temples, wishing her siblings would just shut up. She stands and walks over to Suho, abandoning Yixing and Yoona to their screaming match. “What is it?” she asks tiredly. “And sorry about those two. This whole Kris thing has kind of put us all on edge.”

“Believe me, I understand,” Suho says solemnly and Krystal nods appreciatively. “And I’m sorry that I have to be the bearer of bad news, but…” He sighs. “Tao’s here.”

Krystal’s stomach drops. Yixing and Yoona turn to him, eyes wide. “W-What?” says the long haired vampire. “T-Tao’s here? In Moon Manor?”

Suho nods. “He’s in the garden with Victoria—”

Krystal doesn’t let him finish. She sprints past him to the greenhouse at the back of the manor. She pushes open the doors and inside this cage of glass and roses she finds Tao standing across from Kris. They were a foot or two apart, but it still somehow looked like an ocean to Krystal—a crushing distance made of lies and love. Baekhyun stood by his sire’s side, looking on anxiously and furiously. At the center, a little ways at the edge stood Victoria, her arms crossed neatly, a pretty smile on her crimson lips. Her eyes twinkled with amusement.

How do you feel, little bird? Victoria’s mocking voice comes floating into Krystal’s head. How is it, to see you dear one again after all this time? Are you happy? How does it feel to have your family back together again?

Slowly, Tao’s dark eyes turn towards her. His face was ashen white, his lips lost of all colour. He looked like a wraith. There was a hint of a smile in his eyes, a certain gentle joy mixed with sadness as he looks at her.

“Hello, Soojung.”

The sound of his voice is enough to take her breath away. But as Krystal stood there at the gate before all the flowers and all her memories, she comes to realize how thin a line it was between love and hate.

She loved Tao. She really did.

But in this moment, as she looked upon his face and into his onyx orbs, all she could see was the mirage of auburn hair and bright hazel jewels and tears. And for the first time her heart could remember, Krystal felt nothing for Tao but hate.

Author's Note: I wanted to ram my head into the wall writing this chapter because the idea of Chanyeol all teary kinda makes me want to cut myself. But anyways, we're finally reaching the end of "Dracula's Daughter"! Yay~! *claps* Part five, however, doesn't wrap up this particular plotline. It does wrap up Krystal's POV, however, and this story. I keep trying to determine who's POV I wanted to go with for the next part. I have two POV in the works, "Of Gods and Monsters" (Victorias' POV) and "Electra" (Tiffany's POV). "Of Gods and Monsters" directly continues this particular plotline and will effectively finish the Krisyeol storyline and begin going into my mess of HunHan plotline (featuring LuKai), or focus on "Electra", which ties into this current plotline but is more LuKai (but is really all over the place in terms of pairings). >_< Decisions, decisions, decisions. Too many plot bunnies, not enough time.

Or maybe I'll just go nuts and post both at the same time. /dies I dunno yet, we'll see, but it's really between the two right now.

Anyways, thanks for reading guys! As always, reviews are epic♥.