Briar Rose - Taekook

Chapter 1

100 years later

I: Jungkook 

I'm beginning to think my neighbor's cat is immortal.

No, seriously.

In all the 18 years I've been living on Bangtan Street, that brown tabby hasn't aged at all. At least, he looks the same as always; long brown fur with piercing amber eyes, and big white-pawed feet to finish the look.

Not a single white hair on its muzzle.

Yup. Immortal.

And for some reason, he's always watching me. Every time I exit my house, he's there; either staring at me from the window or sitting on the gate. I even caught him looking at me through my bedroom window once; amber eyes unblinking. It's starting to get downright creepy. So creepy that I'm starting to wonder if you can arrest a cat for alleged stalking.

Though, that should be the least of my worries right now. At least for the world it is. On every television broadcast, radio, youtube, newspaper, there's only one topic.

Vampires.

It only started recently, just last winter, when the first attack happened. Right here in London, England. The victim was found dead in a ditch, one arm completely ripped off. On his neck was the distinct mark of two large red spots, and almost all the blood in his body was gone. The doctors had never seen anything like it, but waved it off as some kind of blood malfunction. No one believed vampires were the cause.

But that was before the second attack.

Then the third.

And all had the same two red marks on their neck, bodies sucked dry of any blood.

By the fourth attack, the doctors were malfunctioning themselves, completely confused as to what was happening. They had taken vampires into consideration, but without evidence, nothing was confirmed.

Yet.

The most concrete evidence came four months ago, when a woman who was walking her dog late at night, swore to have seen a fanged figure depart from a body which was found the following morning.

The next day, that woman ended up missing.

At this point, doctors and police alike had to conclude that the impossible had indeed happened.

Vampires were attacking.

Not just in London, but all over the world, people were finding corpses on the street; eyes glazed over and limbs missing. Understandably everyone was frightened, and the police had passed orders telling everyone to stay inside during the nighttime, to try and minimize attacks.

Now, I didn't really believe in vampires, not even after these attacks. Vampires were only beings that appeared in horror books, to scare children. No way were they actually real. These attacks were probably staged by a terrorist intent on sending shock and fear through the countries. And if that had been their motive, it worked. People were now too scared to go outside, even during the daytime. Schools had been closed, and some shops had also shut.

☆☆☆

I sighed in relief, dropping onto my sofa. Since school was shut for an "emergency vacation", I could relax wholeheartedly and not worry when my next assignment was due.

And I loved it.

It wasn't because I was a horrible student, but the opposite. Even class valedictorians needed rest, and rest was exactly what I needed.