Chapter 18 – The Immortal is at 5% Capacity

"Do you … do you think of me as your favourite human?" he asked slowly and then he quickly explained when he sensed my confusion at his abrupt question. "I heard it from Jaemin. He said he was two favourite humans that he adores. Is it … the same as me?"

What the fuck did you tell him, Jaemin?

I'm going to wring his neck after this.

"Why do you think that?" I asked as I turned around to face him. He was curled up into a small ball, his legs against his chest with his arms wrapping around his legs. He looked uncertain and I hated that look on his face.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I just want to know why you stuck by me for so long."

I kept quiet.

"And Jaemin said something else as well."

I am going to regret asking this but I did it anyway. "What did he say?" I asked quietly.

"He said that vampires have … m - mates," he revealed and that made me shut my eyes for a second. Why is this little human asking me about mates now? Is this going too far, Jaemin? What have you done to my little one? "And that they choose one partner for a lifetime."

The little one can't even say the word without feeling awkward. If this wasn't a serious topic, I would've chuckled and ruffled his hair, while bringing him to a hug. The longer I stared at him, the more I realised that he was being serious and I cannot treat it as lightly as I wanted it to.

Mates??

Jiminie is asking about mates now??

I can't believe this.

"Yes, we do," I answered quietly.

"Am I … are you going to mark me as your mate?" he asked.

I'm going to have an aneurysm after this. Why is Jaemin saying all these things to him? He doesn't know a thing about our world. Why is he revealing all these matters to him? I tried to calm down and think rationally, but it got me angry instead. Jiminie must've sensed that I was getting angry and so he turned around to put his hands on me, rubbing soothingly down my skin.

"It's okay if you don't want to say it," he assured me quickly and grabbed my wrists. "I got curious."

"I am not angry at you, little one," I replied quietly, pulling him towards me and letting him curl himself against me. "This is a fairly new world for you, and I am not one to scare you. Jaemin may have all the answers that you might need, but please knowing more may scare you and it may make you despise me. The last thing I would want for you, is you being scared of me. That is my number one fear."

"I just … I just want to know about your world, Alice," he replied weakly.

"I chose you, Jiminie," I said firmly. "And I will choose you no matter what lifetime. You are my little one and you will remain as such. The matter about me marking you as mine will only be brought up once you are willing. I will not rob you of the chance of having a normal life, little one."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

I looked at him. "You are human, Jiminie," I replied as I caressed his head, running my hand through the soft strands of his hair. If my dead heart could hurt, it will squeeze itself tight now. "And ... I am not."

He seemed to understand what I meant and he squeezed himself tighter around me. He's growing bigger in size now, and it will be almost impossible for me to hold him like this on a chair. I let out a sigh, pressed a kiss on his head and wondered why it hurt when I was dead.

"You are loved, little one."

"I know, Alice," he murmured.

.

"Is this real?" he demanded suddenly.

I took a pause from typing on my keyboard and looked to where Jiminie was currently lying on my bed, my ipad on his stomach. "What on Earth are you talking about, little one?" I asked curiously.

"I'm watching Twilight. There is this one scene where Bella goes to the biology classroom on her first day of school and Edward was there trying his best to cover his nose because he liked her smell! And she thought she smelled bad!"

I stared at him blankly. "I will let that slide," I said. I detested being compared to the Twilight movie. At least choose Hotel Transylvania. "But yes, you're right. We can smell humans. We know that you smell nice or your blood tastes nice. You exude a scent only vampires can smell."

"Do I smell nice?" he asked excitedly.

I sighed. "You smell like vanilla," I replied.

"Really?"

Why was he excited? I don't understand him.

"So when are you going to drink my blood?" he asked next.

I stared at him in surprise. Did he really ask me that? "I … I am not going to drink your blood, Jiminie," I said faintly.

"So who's blood are you drinking?" he asked curiously.

I am digging myself deeper in my grave.

"... O - other people."

He gave me a look which made me grimace. I knew I shouldn't have said that. He gets scary whenever he gets angry, though it was rare, I could feel myself - even as powerful as I was - shrivel up whenever I see him get angry. How many times would I repeat that?

"I don't … bite them," I said, desperate to explain and appease him before he got even angrier at me. "I just … drink through blood bags. Didn't you see them in the fridge?"

"I don't want you drinking other people's blood," he said angrily.

"What are you talking -"

"I want you to drink from me," he said firmly.

My mouth dropped open at his suggestion. Jiminie looked like he was serious, his eyes were set and his mouth was pressed into a firm line. Where did he get that idea from? Has he been reading too many vampire novels? I only see these types of things from mangas.

"Where do you get this idea from?" I asked.

"When you mark me as your mate, then no more drinking other people's blood," he stated firmly, ignoring my statement. "Do you agree with this?"

Why does it have to come to this?

"But … why?"

"Because I said so."

Where does he learn this from?!

.

"Jaemin, please stop feeding strange thoughts to Jiminie or I swear I'm going to do something terrible to you," I said.

"I merely told him what he wanted to hear," he replied as he raised his coffee cup to his lips and took a sip. "Sometimes, there are some things that the boy would want to know, from a boy point of view."

I stared at him flatly. "I'm going to stab you, Jaemin."

"Hey, the boy needs it," he defended. "You coddle him too much."

"I do not," I growled.

"Yes, you do," he pointed out.

I gave up and dropped my head into my hands. Hearing Jaemin chuckle at me, I knew that he was right all along. When was he wrong in the first place? Out of all the things that he said, everything was right. He sets his cup down and lets out a sigh, knowing that it was all directed at me.

"I know that you have trouble imagining him as a man," he started. "But you should start getting used to it. He's not a baby anymore. It's about time you treat him as an adult."

I sighed.

"But he's so cute and adorable," I muttered.

"Yeah well, he's a man too," he added. "So you gotta remember that, Alice."

"Yeah, he's officially an adult."

"By law."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"So, where are you going after this?" he asked as he took a bite of his cake.

"I'll head back to the company and sort out whatever that needs sorting," I answered with a soft sigh. "Sebastian is already complaining that I've been away for too long."

Jaemin laughed. "Stop procrastinating, Alice," he pointed out. "You're the boss. You're not a nobody."

"I got complacent."

Jaemin gave me a look like he understood what I meant. I licked my dry lips and took a sip of my iced americano, glancing around the cafe knowing that it was empty at this time of day as most of the kids were attending their lessons. The professor at hand was seated opposite me, sipping on coffee and eating cake.

"Don't you have classes now?" I asked.

"My TA is handling it right now."

"What does that mean?"

"I have a student who applied as a Teacher Assistant and she is handling the lesson right now," he explained. "She will be handing the kids their projects and giving them pointers if they need. I do not need to teach them today which is why I am free to sit here with you, Alice."

"That's nice."

"Yes, but she always complains that I'm working her too hard," he added. "I still don't understand why she applied as TA in the first place."

I shrugged. "Maybe she just wants to get close to you."

"On second thought, I might apply for a job at your company," he said quickly. "I've been given a lot of hell from the girls in this university. They've started a private group on Facebook and are stalking me everywhere. They've videos of me interacting with people, and I think they're taking a video of us right now as we speak."

I perked up when I heard him say that. "Hey, I don't want paparazzi to know that I go to this University," I said quickly. "Reporters are going to come over soon if this keeps up, Jae."

"It's a private group, I don't think reporters are able to get a snoop on you," he replied, as he started looking around the cafe. "If there were, Jimin would find out and give them hell. Don't worry about it."

"Why would Jiminie know about it?" I asked in confusion. "Is he in the group?"

"Yes, he's posing as a girl in the group and tells me about the contents whenever a girl posted something inside," he explained. "I told him about it and he wanted to help."

I stared at him. "Aren't you going to do something about it?" I asked.

"Well, they haven't done anything extreme yet and no one got hurt yet," he explained with a shrug. "So, I won't press charges or whatever."

"You're too carefree about this, Jae," I added.

"It's not that bad."

I gave him a disappointed look. "You just like the attention."

He shrugged again. "Not gonna lie about that."

Rolling my eyes at him, I took a sip of my drink and then the cafe doors opened - bringing in noise and confusion. We turned towards the sudden sound, and noticed Nathaniel rushing into the cafe - looked around before noticing us staring at him in confusion.

"Alice boss! There's a problem!"

"Calm down, kid," Jaemin said. "Take a breath."

"No! We're in trouble! It's Jimin! He's in trouble!"

"Where?" I demanded as I shot up quickly.

"They're taking him away! We couldn't fight them -"

"Lead the way, kid!"

My dead heart had lodged itself in my throat as we followed Nathaniel out of the cafe and to the location where Jiminie supposedly was. I was terrified of the unknown, there were too many possibilities happening and though I knew there was no point in fretting, I couldn't stop the fear.

If he was dealing with humans, I wouldn't worry. He has a black belt in Taekwondo and like Jaemin said, he's a grown man. He could protect himself. But he's not dealing with humans right now. He's dealing with my own kind, and they're strong enough to break him.

Tae has started to move.

We ran towards the Arts Centre and Nathaniel led us to the back - to where the side gate was. It was secluded and there were no security guards there. In the distance, I could see that his friends were in a struggle with another group and Jiminie was in the mess of it all.

"Jaemin."

"Got it boss."

Together, we pushed back the vampire group and separated the kids from the immortals who were hellbent in taking away my other half. Locating him somewhere in the middle, struggling to find traction and fighting with two immortal beings, I made my way towards him quickly.

Taking two steps, and I grabbed Jiminie by the back of his collar - pulling him away before I kicked the nearest one in his chest, sending him flying. I eyed the other one and snarled at him, showing my incisors. He faltered when he recognised whom I was, staggering a few steps back.

"You're trespassing, get out!" I yelled and released a shockwave of my powers - the one only an Emperor could use - the one meant to control other vampires to submission.

They staggered backwards - surprised at the power - the others seemed to falter and started to retreat, pulling away from the other humans. I turned to Jiminie, holding his arms and shaking him to get him to pay attention. He looked extremely pale right now and all I needed for him now is to be safe.

"Get out of here, little one," I said quickly. "Go to my office. Find Sebastian. You'll be safe there. Go! Now!"

"But Alice -"

"Go now!" I cried out and pushed him away. "Nathaniel, get him out of here!"

"Alice, watch out!"

Screams, a loud explosion, a flash of blinding pain and I fell to my knees with a gasp. Jiminie let out a scream of fear, dropping down to the floor with me - his hands grabbing onto me. I looked down at my abdomen, seeing the spray of bullets on my chest and stomach. It hurts. It was blinding and it was burning. I looked up when I heard the shotgun reloaded and it was one of the immortals.

He has the weapon aimed at me.

Silver bullets.

"Boss!"

How did he know? How did Tae find out? Blood spewed out of my lips and stained my clothes. I could feel myself trying to heal but it was stopped by the silver bullets embedded in me. The more my body tries to heal, the more my energy will deplete and I would be powerless if I keep this up.

I need to get him out of here.

"Jaemin, get him out of here now!" I yelled.

"Okay!"

"No! No! You can't leave me!"

"You need to go!" I yelled desperately and urgently, my dead heart breaking apart as I had to pry away his desperate hands from me. "Your safety is important to me. Your life is important! Go! Don't make me repeat myself! I'll be fine!"

They only want my weakness and that is Jiminie.

Jaemin came forth and pulled him away from me. His hands were already soaked with the blood on my clothes as he tried to hold onto me. Muttering curses under my breath, Jaemin managed to tear him away from me and I tried hard not to listen to his pleading cries when the enemy attacked again.

"Hey!"

The vampire with the shotgun started running towards them, meandering his way around the scattered group. I forced myself up, ignoring the blinding pain and unleashed my power at the vampire - using my telekinesis to pin him down onto the ground.

Running to him, I grabbed the weapon in his hand and knocked him out with a hard kick to the face - hard enough to break bone. Cocking and loading the shotgun, I turned towards the group of vampires who were making their way towards me with the intention to stop Jaemin from leaving Jiminie.

They stopped running when they saw me standing there and they looked uncertain, unsure of what to do with one of the vampire emperors there. My appearance was not part of their plan. I was not about to allow them to move past me. What I needed to do now was to give Jaemin time to leave campus.

A scream cut across the campus, and I looked over my shoulder to see mortals scattering away in fear as another group of vampires had somehow entered campus - using another route as they chased after the pair. They were armed with a shotgun as well.

Cursing, I followed after them.

Hearing a gunshot, I watched as Jaemin fell, pulling Jiminie down with him and the vampires swarmed around them like bees to their hive - eager to grab Jiminie and go. I eyed the group, used my powers to shove them aside, clearing the way as I raced to the fallen pair.

"Get up!" I yelled as I yanked Jiminie from the ground. "Get up the both of you!"

Pumped with adrenaline and bleeding, we sought to make sense of the situation. I could feel my energy draining away and they took a shot once more. I deflected the bullets, gathering both boys and pulling them forward. I knew their target was Jiminie so they wouldn't hurt him but it was too close for comfort when they're using a shotgun.

"Run! Don't stop running!" I urged, pushing them forwards as I ran alongside them. Jaemin gave me a fearful look but nodded grimly when he noticed my facial expression. We were outnumbered, but we knew that Jiminie was more important than us both.

Another boom, and I felt searing pain on my back - the force strong enough to shove me face flat onto the ground. I hear screams and then heavy footsteps. Struggling to get up, with the pain overwhelming my senses, I was shoved back onto the ground, a gravity inducing power pressing onto me.

With my powers at 5% and reducing, I couldn't disable the spell no matter how hard I tried. My bloodied fingers dug hard into the ground as I fought to counter the spell, with it pressing me into the ground. I had to watch as the rest of the group jumped on Jaemin - pinning him to the ground by their sheer numbers as they wrestled Jiminie off him.

"Alice!"

"Alice!"

Gritting my teeth hard, I had to watch my little one get carried away by the group of immortal beings. His shouts of struggle, and his pleas for me to help would forever be seared into my brain. I could only watch his fearful face as he was brought away from me.

After what seemed like eternity, the pressure on my body was released and I could finally breathe properly. With the spell gone, it meant that the group had left campus and Jiminie is already far away from me right now. If I was not dead already, I would have died today.

I sat up with a groan, my bones aching and clicking as I stretched my aching back.

"BOSS!" Jaemin was running up after me.

"Stop fucking yelling I can hear you," I answered flatly. "Call Sebastian."

.

"The extent of damage is intensive, I'm surprised you still could move after all the damage you sustained. You certainly are one of a kind, boss."

I was in the hospital meant for vampires. A vampire doctor was pulling out the ball bearings one by one and the occupants could hear it ping every time the doctor drops it into the metal bowl held by the resident nurse. I was completely naked, save for the underwear and they had wiped off the blood so the damage could be seen clearer.

There was another pair of nurses crouching by my legs, taking out the round balls from between the strands of opened muscle and cracked bone. These tiny balls were in the way of my healing, and I was exhausted from everything. I just wanted to sleep for many years.

But I need to think of a plan to recuse Jiminie.

My four clan leaders; Adam, Michael, Cain and Steph were already there. Sebastian had called them while we were en-route to the hospital. They were waiting for my directions. Sebastian was by my side holding the blood bag as I drank up. Jaemin was on the bed behind me, getting treated as well. Nathaniel was by the corner, looking pale and sickly for being involved.

After the fiasco at the school, Jaemin had called Sebastian upon my instructions and he arranged for an ambulance for us and a few more ambulances for the human kids who needed to be sent to the hospital. I knew that there would be a lot of explanation that needed to be done, as it involved human kids and I knew the detectives would want one soon.

I let out a deep annoyed sigh - alerting the four of them as they waited for me to speak. I could feel all eyes on me. Sebastian threw away one bag and began preparing for the second blood bag, opening the slot to insert the straw to make it easier for me to drink.

"Adam, find out where they took Jiminie. I'm going to have a word with our border boys after this fiasco is over," I said as I continued sipping blood. "A large group of immortals have breached our borders, bringing in weapons and cars into my territory. If you don't find him within the next three hours, I'm going to feed you and the whole lot to the wolves."

"Yes boss!" he cried as he fled from the room.

I eyed the remaining three. "Cain, get the plan running."

"Yes boss!" He was the next one to leave the room.

"Michael, get our clan ready. I want everyone on standby. Let's hold a press conference in the office in an hour or so. I want to address everyone."

"Noted boss." He bowed and then left the room.

"Steph -"

"I'll deal with the police, boss."

I gave her a ghost of a smile. "This is why you're my favourite, Stephanie."

She smiled. "I know, boss. We'll get him back, I promise."

"I know."

.