Night Kiss

by E. T. Malinowski

  Min-su matched him thrust for thrust, the sound of flesh meeting flesh echoing through the room. She could feel him in her soul, feel his heart beating in time with hers. He was so hard and thick inside her, filling her perfectly. She slowed, circling her hips, feeling him rub her deep inside. The scrape of his teeth against her skin was a sharp pleasure-pain. He gripped her hips through the fabric of her skirt just the way she liked, his claws piercing the fabric, lifting and then lowering her down on his cock slowly, letting her feel every inch sliding into her core.

  “Cheongul,” she whined as the sweet tension built within her, making her muscles shake.

  His response was a growl. She could feel a sense of urgency in him. Min-su opened her eyes, unaware she had closed them. If silver could be described as burning, it was epitomized in Cheongul’s eyes. The overwhelming need to feel his fangs in her flesh came over Min-su.

  She slowed the working of her hips again, pressed firmly against him. With gentle fingers, she stroked his lips, probing until he opened and revealed the glistening length of his fangs. She caressed one with a single finger, and he jerked within her. He grabbed her wrist, holding her gaze with his own. Min-su couldn’t have looked away even if she wanted to. She was mesmerized by the way he nuzzled her wrist tenderly. He slowly swirled his tongue, and she watched it dance over her skin, the rolling of his hips matching the leisurely movement of his tongue. His other hand lay flat over her pelvis, and he shifted it to keep her rocking in slow motion.

  Cheongul’s eyes fluttered closed, and he slowly sank his fangs into her wrist. Min-su moaned at the sensation, white-hot, with just enough pain to sharpen the pleasure. Her breath stuttered, and she bucked her hips erratically, matching his movements, as a hot rush filled her. Min-su couldn’t breathe for the sensations battering against her, all running in tandem with the languid draw of his mouth on her wrist. Cheongul launched her, sending her flying, even as he anchored her with his fangs in her wrist.

  When she was younger, Min-su had planned to keep her virginity until she married. Being turned changed all that. Her body made demands she was unable to resist, no matter how hard she tried. She was not inexperienced, but the feel of Cheongul inside her, the feel of his fangs and the pull of his mouth on her wrist, it was the most amazing experience she’d ever had. Nothing could compare to it, nothing would ever measure up to it. In that moment she felt herself fall all the way. There was no turning back. She loved Cheongul. The realization was both amazing and catastrophic. There was no way he could feel the same.

  Cheongul

  CHEONGUL HAD always resisted the urge to feed from a Shifter, a respect for the departed sort of thing. He’d had sex with them but never taken blood. When he needed to feed, he chose humans or other Vampires, never a Shifter. Min-su tasted… amazing. He’d never gotten such a buzz from feeding before. It was as if his entire body were overflowing with energy. One last pull, and he licked the puncture wounds, two flicks of his tongue resulting in another moan from the amazing woman straddling his lap.

  He turned to Min-su, saw the heat in her eyes, how they burned brilliant red. She was incredible. Cheongul curled his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her down for another kiss. Shivers raced through him as she nipped at his lips, just enough to sting, but not draw blood. When breathing became necessary, he let her up with a reluctant chuckle.

  “What?” she murmured as she laid her head on his shoulder, playing with the hair at his nape.

  “This was not the location I would have chosen for our first time together,” he said. “I was hoping for a more… romantic setting, not an empty studio.”

  “So you’re saying you were planning to seduce me, huh?” she asked, tugging a strand of hair. “Strategizing ways to get in my pants?”

  “Well, I… that’s not, damn,” he muttered, letting his head fall back. Her giggle brought his head back up, and he bumped his shoulder, making her lift her head. She was smiling.

  “I’m not complaining about the location at all,” she purred before kissing him slowly. “Romance is all well and good, but let’s be honest. Neither one of us was thinking about romance when this started. We weren’t even thinking protection. We were thinking hot, dirty, monkey sex, and that’s what we had, and it was incredible. Don’t you dare go regretting it, or so help me, I’ll smack the shit out of you.”

  “I don’t regret the sex, just the setting. As for protection, Spiritual Beings can’t transmit diseases. With Vampires and Shifters, our bodies attack and kill any human pathogens. I’m not sure about other species. Pregnancy would only be a concern if you were in heat, which, if you were, we would not be talking right now. We’d still be fucking,” he said with a smile. “And please don’t smack me. HanYin gets all worked up over the bruises you leave behind, and I can’t always keep him from pinning me down to make sure I don’t have any other injuries.”

  “You let HanYin hyung pin you down? Well, isn’t that just a kinky little thought.” She giggled again. She was so freaking adorable when she giggled.

  “HanYin is…. he can be very persistent when he wants to be, and he gets very stubborn when it comes to making sure his family is okay,” Cheongul said, growing serious as he considered the reasons why HanYin was how he was. “We…. None of us have bright, shiny pasts, but I’d be hard-pressed to say which of us had the worst of it. I would have to say it was a toss-up between Ki-tae and HanYin. They’re my brothers, and if I could erase the pain they’ve experienced, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

  “That’s how I feel about Jin-woo-ya and Jong-in-a,” Min-su said, putting her head back on his shoulder. “Oppa….”

  “Just Cheongul,” he said quietly. “I would be pleased if you would drop the honorifics.”

  “Then you have to do the same,” she said, and he could hear the pleasure in her voice.

  “What were you going to say?”

  “Where do we go from here?” She spoke so quietly he almost didn’t hear her.

  “We take it one day at a time,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her. “I am… no good at relationships. I can, as I’ve been told on many occasions, be very difficult to deal with, especially when I’m in a foul mood. I… I’m not, I have…. The only way to put it is I have anger management issues, and it has resulted in horrible things. I have a tendency to get… physical if I lose control.”

  “One day at time, hm?” she said, shifting in his lap and making him groan. He gripped her hips to hold her still, and Cheongul just knew she was smirking. “I think I can manage that. I’m not always easy to get along with either. I didn’t used to be that way. When I was little, my mom said I was such a laid-back child, happy and well-behaved. That all changed when we were attacked.”

  “It wasn’t just you?”

  “No, and I don’t think I want to talk about this right now,” she said, sitting up, her face full of sadness. “Maybe some other time.”

  “Would you have dinner with me tomorrow night?” he asked suddenly, not sure what he was thinking. He was more of a hookup sort of guy, and that had worked for him for centuries. Now, for her, he wanted to be a date kind of guy, and he wasn’t sure exactly how to do that.

  “I… sure, that would be great.” She smiled, and it lit up his world. Cheongul knew he was in deep trouble. Min-su wasn’t like the other women he’d had sex with. She wasn’t like any woman he’d ever encountered. Yes, he was definitely in trouble.

  After they finally parted and straightened themselves out, Min-su went to get her things and then return to the studio. He headed home, and now, Cheongul paced back and forth across his living room. He looked around, wondering if Min-su would like it, or if she would think it was too dark, too masculine, too modern. Cheongul sighed. He’d never worried about his apartment before. He loved it. The only place better than his was Soon-joon’s, only because that was his home. He lived there just as much as he lived in his apartment.

  Cheongul didn’t need a lot of space, so he’d chosen a rel
atively small apartment. He just had a single bedroom, living room, kitchen, and the bathroom. When he’d first moved in, there was a second bedroom, but he converted that into a home recording studio. He did a lot of his work there and then sent the files to BLE when he was ready to polish them up or if he had some tweaks he wanted to make that he couldn’t do at home. He felt it suited him, but he wondered what Min-su would think of it.

  Then there was the fact he had no idea what she liked to eat. He was partial to pork, but that didn’t mean Min-su liked it. Cheongul wanted to throw something. This was going to drive him insane. Hookups were easy and relatively uncomplicated. Not much thought went into it beyond “Damn, she’s hot” and “You wanna?” Dating was a whole other ball game. He didn’t know what constituted romantic, and he was loath to ask for advice, mainly because he knew his brothers would never let him live it down.

  Yet if he wanted to make the date memorable for Min-su, he was going to have to step out of his comfort zone, which meant risking near-constant ribbing from Ki-tae and HanYin for about the next century, if not longer. Giving in to the inevitable, Cheongul pulled his phone out and dialed Ki-tae’s number. If he wasn’t currently involved in seducing Jin-woo, Ki-tae should pick up on the first or second ring.

  THIS WAS not supposed to be happening. He was not supposed to be with someone else. He was supposed to realize where he belonged and be obedient. His actions were deplorable. There was no room for anyone else in his life, in his heart. There was only space for one, and that one was already chosen. He turned to the wall, examining the music venues again. An updated schedule was required. They had changed so many events that what he currently had was no longer accurate. Simply unbearable.

  He yanked pins from the board and tossed them aside angrily, heedless of where they landed. Once all the errors were removed, he was much calmer. He could focus. He nibbled on his thumb as he walked back to the desk and tapped a few keys on the laptop. Then he took his seat and began typing. Clearly another message had to be sent, and this one needed to make a more significant impression, make him understand obedience was expected, demanded.

  No, no, he would give him a chance to make reparations, one chance and one chance only. Then if that failed, he would deliver another message.

  Jin-woo

  JIN-WOO AND Ki-tae were working companionably in the kitchen, Jin-woo only having to occasionally avoid wandering hands, when the door chime rang.

  “I’ll get it,” Ki-tae said as he sucked juice off his thumb, winking when he caught Jin-woo staring.

  “Evil bastard,” Jin-woo muttered, but his tone conveyed how much he didn’t mean it. He was just putting the rice into a bowl when Ki-tae came back into the kitchen. He looked very serious. “Ki-tae? Is everything all right?”

  “HanYin is here,” Ki-tae said. “He wants to speak to you, says he owes you an apology. What happened between you two? Why would he need to apologize?”

  “He doesn’t, really,” Jin-woo said with a sigh. “He was just being the protective brother he is.”

  “What happened?” Ki-tae asked again.

  “Nothing actually happened, Ki-tae,” Jin-woo said. “It was shortly after we had gotten to the office. Shin-bai hyung brought me to Huijang-nim’s office. You were out of it, and when I tried to check on you, HanYin hyung stopped me. He said something to me in what I can only assume was Mandarin, growled it, actually, and wouldn’t let me near you. Soon-joon-nim explained why. There’s no reason for him to apologize.”

  “Yes, there is,” HanYin said quietly from the doorway. When Jin-woo looked over, he saw HanYin’s hands filled with a package wrapped in red fabric. He walked over to Jin-woo and bowed low. “Please forgive my behavior this afternoon.”

  “HanYin hyung,” Jin-woo said quietly. “There’s really no need. I understand you were protecting your family.”

  “It was unacceptable for me to treat you in such a fashion,” HanYin said.

  “HanYin hyung….”

  “Jin-woo,” Ki-tae said from his spot on the other side of the counter. When Jin-woo looked at him, he shook his head.

  Jin-woo sighed and took the offered package. It felt like a wooden box of some sort. With that done, he bowed to HanYin, smiling in thanks, and set the gift on the counter.

  “I must get going. I will see you two tomorrow,” HanYin said with another small bow, and then he quickly left. The door closed almost silently behind him.

  “What was that all about?” Jin-woo said.

  “Open it,” Ki-tae said as he pulled a bottle from the wine rack and grabbed the corkscrew.

  Jin-woo carefully untied what turned out to be silk cloth. Inside he found three round bamboo boxes. He lifted the first lid, and the delicious scent of steamed dumplings filled the air, making Jin-woo’s mouth water. The second contained dwaeji bulgogi, spicy marinated pork, one of his favorite dishes. Jin-woo looked at Ki-tae, who gave him a small smile, and then turned to the last container. He gasped in surprise when he saw six manju, one of his favorite sweet pastries, arranged inside.

  “Do you know what this means?” Ki-tae asked as he poured two glasses of wine.

  “He asked either Min-su-ya or Jong-in-a about my favorite foods,” Jin-woo said, feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness. “I’ve never had anyone do that before. Min-su-ya could burn water, and Jong-in-a is too busy to cook for himself, let alone anyone else.”

  Ki-tae said, “When he is worried or happy or sad, or when someone is sick either physically or emotionally, HanYin cooks.”

  “Wait. You mean HanYin hyung cooked for me because….” Jin-woo couldn’t even finish the sentence, his throat was so tight.

  “He will talk at great length about general things, impersonal things, but when he wants to truly say something important to him, HanYin speaks with his cooking. He is saying you matter to him. Your happiness matters to him.”

  That did it. The tears slid down his face, and Jin-woo turned away from Ki-tae, embarrassed. Ki-tae wrapped his strong arms around him, and Jin-woo turned, burying his face into Ki-tae’s chest. Really he felt like such an idiot, crying over something like this. Yet it had been so long since anyone had told him, even indirectly, that he mattered to them. Rationally he knew his friends cared, but little gestures like this, even it if was meant to be an apology, were a rare thing.

  When Ki-tae chuckled, Jin-woo smacked him on the chest. It took a few more minutes before he could compose himself, and then Jin-woo stepped back. He grabbed two of the containers, pulling the dumplings out of Ki-tae’s eager reach, earning a pout, and took them over to the table. While Ki-tae took the last box, he gathered up their rice bowls and the rice and placed them on the table. It was nice eating with someone. Usually he ate alone in his apartment. This was weird, but in a good way.

  “I wonder if you realize exactly how much danger you were in this afternoon?” Ki-tae asked as they ate.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’re Vampires. We’re faster, stronger. Our senses and reflexes are sharper than any human’s,” Ki-tae explained.

  “Are you saying HanYin hyung would have hurt me?”

  “Had he perceived you as a threat to me, he would have killed you,” Ki-tae said softly.

  “I don’t understand. Are you trying to make me afraid of him? HanYin hyung is one of the sweetest people I know,” Jin-woo said with a huff. “He’s your brother. Why would you talk about him like this?”

  “Precisely because he is my brother, and I love him,” Ki-tae said. “HanYin is very sweet. He is caring and funny and mischievous. He’s also one of the most dangerous Vampires I know. I’m not trying to make you afraid of him. I just want you to realize we’re not like the people you’ve dealt with most of your life. We don’t always think as humans do. Today HanYin was protecting his family, something extremely important to him. Had he considered you a threat, he would have killed you, and he would have hated himself for it. That day I sent you for HanYin, when Cheongul was… having
a bad day? It was because Cheongul was having a hard time controlling his anger. He was close to losing that control, and when that happens, things bleed, things die. HanYin and I had the best chance of calming him down, or at least containing it to just us. It would have killed a little more of his spirit if he had hurt someone.”

  “And you?” Jin-woo asked, looking at Ki-tae. “What about you, Ki-tae?”

  “I… get panic attacks,” Ki-tae said softly. “Of a sort, at any rate. There are certain things, certain concepts that trigger me. I also… don’t always wake up nicely.”

  “What does that mean?” Jin-woo cocked his head to one side, studying the serious expression on Ki-tae’s face. It was clear this conversation was very important to him, but Jin-woo couldn’t figure out if they were talking about what was really bothering Ki-tae.

  “I’m not always awake when I start moving,” Ki-tae said, and it seemed as if he struggled to find the right words. “It takes a few moments for my mind to register my surroundings. It’s worse if I’m on my stomach and someone startles me awake. I don’t deal well with being crowded or being touched or grabbed from behind. It gets a sort of fight-or-flight response, but for me, it’s almost always fight.”

  “I always wondered why you guys had the same positioning whenever you were out in a crowd. You were always between Cheongul hyung and HanYin hyung, with Shin-bai hyung behind you and then two bodyguards on either side of the three of you. There was always at least a foot of space that seemed to be a sort of no-man’s-land,” Jin-woo said.

  “We’ve gotten better with the crowds,” Ki-tae said with a small smile. “Not many people are brave enough to try pushing past Shin-bai-ssi.”

  “You woke up fine this morning,” Jin-woo pointed out as he took a bite of rice.